Lost Finale Explained Well!

This was posted by a Writer that had worked on lost (and not written by me in any way)…

First … The Island:

It was real. Everything that happened on the island that we saw throughout the 6 seasons was real. Forget the final image of the plane crash, it was put in purposely to f*&k with people’s heads and show how far the show had come. They really crashed. They really survived. They really discovered Dharma and the Others. The Island keeps the balance of good and evil in the world. It always has and always will perform that role. And the Island will always need a “Protector”. Jacob wasn’t the first, Hurley won’t be the last. However, Jacob had to deal with a malevolent force (MIB) that his mother, nor Hurley had to deal with. He created the devil and had to find a way to kill him — even though the rules prevented him from actually doing so.

Thus began Jacob’s plan to bring candidates to the Island to do the one thing he couldn’t do. Kill the MIB. He had a huge list of candidates that spanned generations. Yet everytime he brought people there, the MIB corrupted them and caused them to kill one another. That was until Richard came along and helped Jacob understand that if he didn’t take a more active role, then his plan would never work.

Enter Dharma — which I’m not sure why John is having such a hard time grasping. Dharma, like the countless scores of people that were brought to the island before, were brought there by Jacob as part of his plan to kill the MIB. However, the MIB was aware of this plan and interferred by “corrupting” Ben. Making Ben believe he was doing the work of Jacob when in reality he was doing the work of the MIB. This carried over into all of Ben’s “off-island” activities. He was the leader. He spoke for Jacob as far as they were concerned. So the “Others” killed Dharma and later were actively trying to kill Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley and all the candidates because that’s what the MIB wanted. And what he couldn’t do for himself.

Dharma was originally brought in to be good. But was turned bad by MIB’s corruption and eventually destroyed by his pawn Ben. Now, was Dharma only brought there to help Jack and the other Canditates on their overall quest to kill Smokey? Or did Jacob have another list of Canidates from the Dharma group that we were never aware of? That’s a question that is purposley not answered because whatever answer the writers came up with would be worse than the one you come up with for yourself. Still … Dharma’s purpose is not “pointless” or even vague. Hell, it’s pretty blantent.

Still, despite his grand plan, Jacob wanted to give his “candidates” (our Lostaways) the one thing he, nor his brother, were ever afforded: free will. Hence him bringing a host of “candidates” through the decades and letting them “choose” which one would actually do the job in the end. Maybe he knew Jack would be the one to kill Flocke and that Hurley would be the protector in the end. Maybe he didn’t. But that was always the key question of the show: Fate vs Free-will. Science vs Faith. Personally I think Jacob knew from the beginning what was going to happen and that everyone played a part over 6 seasons in helping Jack get to the point where he needed to be to kill Smokey and make Hurley the protector — I know that’s how a lot of the writers viewed it. But again, they won’t answer that (nor should they) because that ruins the fun.

In the end, Jack got to do what he always wanted to do from the very first episode of the show: Save his fellow Lostaways. He got Kate and Sawyer off the island and he gave Hurley the purpose in life he’d always been missing. And, in Sideways world (which we’ll get to next) he in fact saved everyone by helping them all move on …

Now…

Sideways World:

Sideways world is where it gets really cool in terms of theology and metaphysical discussion (for me at least — because I love history/religion theories and loved all the talks in the writer’s room about it). Basically what the show is proposing is that we’re all linked to certain people during our lives. Call them soulmates (though it’s not exactly the best word). But these people we’re linked to are with us duing “the most important moments of our lives” as Christian said. These are the people we move through the universe with from lifetime to lifetime. It’s loosely based in Hinduisim with large doses of western religion thrown into the mix.

The conceit that the writers created, basing it off these religious philosophies, was that as a group, the Lostaways subconsciously created this “sideways” world where they exist in purgatory until they are “awakened” and find one another. Once they all find one another, they can then move on and move forward. In essence, this is the show’s concept of the afterlife. According to the show, everyone creates their own “Sideways” purgatory with their “soulmates” throughout their lives and exist there until they all move on together. That’s a beautiful notion. Even if you aren’t religious or even spirtual, the idea that we live AND die together is deeply profound and moving.

It’s a really cool and spirtual concept that fits the whole tone and subtext the show has had from the beginning. These people were SUPPOSED to be together on that plane. They were supposed to live through these events — not JUST because of Jacob. But because that’s what the universe or God (depending on how religious you wish to get) wanted to happen. The show was always about science vs faith — and it ultimately came down on the side of faith. It answered THE core question of the series. The one question that has been at the root of every island mystery, every character backstory, every plot twist. That, by itself, is quite an accomplishment.

How much you want to extrapolate from that is up to you as the viewer. Think about season 1 when we first found the Hatch. Everyone thought that’s THE answer! Whatever is down there is the answer! Then, as we discovered it was just one station of many. One link in a very long chain that kept revealing more, and more of a larger mosiac.

But the writer’s took it even further this season by contrasting this Sideways “purgatory” with the Island itself. Remember when Michael appeared to Hurley, he said he was not allowed to leave the Island. Just like the MIB. He wasn’t allowed into this sideways world and thus, was not afforded the opportunity to move on. Why? Because he had proven himself to be unworthy with his actions on the Island. He failed the test. The others, passed. They made it into Sideways world when they died — some before Jack, some years later. In Hurley’s case, maybe centuries later. They exist in this sideways world until they are “awakened” and they can only move on TOGETHER because they are linked. They are destined to be together for eternity. That was their destiny.

They were NOT linked to Anna Lucia, Daniel, Roussou, Alex, Miles, Lupidis, (and all the rest who weren’t in the chuch — basically everyone who wasn’t in season 1). Yet those people exist in Sideways world. Why? Well again, here’s where they leave it up to you to decide. The way I like to think about it, is that those people who were left behind in Sideways world have to find their own soulmates before they can wake up. It’s possible that those links aren’t people from the island but from their other life (Anna’s parnter, the guy she shot — Roussou’s husband, etc etc).

A lot of people have been talking about Ben and why he didn’t go into the Church. And if you think of Sideways world in this way, then it gives you the answer to that very question. Ben can’t move on yet because he hasn’t connected with the people he needs to. It’s going to be his job to awaken Roussou, Alex, Anna Lucia (maybe), Ethan, Goodspeed, his father and the rest. He has to attone for his sins more than he did by being Hurley’s number two. He has to do what Hurley and Desmond did for our Lostaways with his own people. He has to help them connect. And he can only move on when all the links in his chain are ready to. Same can be said for Faraday, Charlotte, Whidmore, Hawkins etc. It’s really a neat, and cool concept. At least to me.

But, from a more “behind the scenes” note: the reason Ben’s not in the church, and the reason no one is in the church but for Season 1 people is because they wrote the ending to the show after writing the pilot. And never changed it. The writers always said (and many didn’t believe them) that they knew their ending from the very first episode. I applaud them for that. It’s pretty fantastic. Originally Ben was supposed to have a 3 episode arc and be done. But he became a big part of the show. They could have easily changed their ending and put him in the church — but instead they problem solved it. Gave him a BRILLIANT moment with Locke outside the church … and then that was it. I loved that. For those that wonder — the original ending started the moment Jack walked into the church and touches the casket to Jack closing his eyes as the other plane flies away. That was always JJ’s ending. And they kept it.

For me the ending of this show means a lot. Not only because I worked on it, but because as a writer it inspired me in a way the medium had never done before. I’ve been inspired to write by great films. Maybe too many to count. And there have been amazing TV shows that I’ve loved (X-Files, 24, Sopranos, countless 1/2 hour shows). But none did what LOST did for me. None showed me that you could take huge risks (writing a show about faith for network TV) and stick to your creative guns and STILL please the audience. I learned a lot from the show as a writer. I learned even more from being around the incredible writers, producers, PAs, interns and everyone else who slaved on the show for 6 years.

In the end, for me, LOST was a touchstone show that dealt with faith, the afterlife, and all these big, spirtual questions that most shows don’t touch. And to me, they never once waivered from their core story — even with all the sci-fi elements they mixed in. To walk that long and daunting of a creative tightrope and survive is simply astounding.

I only have one quesiton, I tried to search through everyone’s question to see if it had been answered but my main question is this: I understand that the island moves (I think because of a defense mechanism against evil) but why did the island travel through time? Come on and give me an answer, if I get this one answer I will feel like I got it.

Neil Erickson &dash;
June 3, 2010 &dash;

I agree with the interpretation that it all took place in Jack’s mind during the course of the few seconds it took the dog to reach him and he died — sort of “Incident at Owl Creek Bridge” redux.

Fc &dash;
June 3, 2010 &dash;

Well Thom… I guess we were watching the same show… Awesome observations! This show will be impossible to replace… “See you in another life, brother” back to you… Fc

Marta &dash;
June 2, 2010 &dash;

Hmmm… to that writer who did this, thanks for trying, but… no.

First off, great way to describe everything that happened in the last episodes, but that really didn’t need explanation. I know some people are confused but they just needed to watch it a bit more carefully. If this is addressed to those people, great job, I’m sure they will thank him a lot.

But for all the contradictions this last season has setted up against the rest of the show, he says nothing. He covers himself saying “it would ruin the fun” but they actually ruined it with this ending.

He hasn’t even got his own stuff clear. Dharma was never meant to be good. There was no good and bad in the beginning. There was people fighting their own fears and there was an island with great misteries. There’s no good and bad in the end, as Jacob is just as cruel as Samuel.

Jacob let Ben go bad because it was necessary for him to get killed in order to pass the job to one of the candidates. Jacob let Widmore kill a lot of people before he went one day like another and explained him his mistakes, so that he would help him in the end. He, if he was so good, could have prevented those deaths.

And if the island needed protection, what was the point in bringing people in? What kind of “free will” is to put in a child’s hands a pen to write his revenge letter to the guy responsible for his parents death? “Free will” and he kept on making ships sink in front of the beach, knowing that his brother would make people fight and suffer? Oh please, f*** off xD

The story was about good or bad, free will or fate, yes, but that was not everything. There was science and faith, and what made it attractive was that they were perfectly balanced. They, in the end, put everything into faith because it was the easy way and they couldn’t come up with anything better.

Who was David then if he isn’t Jack’s son? and why was Aaron a baby in the church and not older?

mike &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

For all those who are unimpressed by the ending because it didnt answer many questions needs to re think the ending. alot of the questions many people have were answered by the writers but werent picked up on.. i have seen posts from people saying why didnt they answer the numbers, or eloise, or polar bears question but i insure you that by talking with other people they did answer them all. The point the writers and tv shows want to do is have poeple talk about their show after it is done airing and that is exactly what this show does. I applaud the writers for giving us the base conclusion for the show and giving us the oppertunity to peice some peices together. If i were to watch all the seasons over again i believe knowing what i know now it might be like watching a cmpletely different show because now i understand why which characters acted the way they did and why some things were shown the way they were.. Also i dont understand why more then half the poeple are commenting so stronlgy on this writers grammatical errors or why certain people were not in the church. This fan (more correct then writer) has his opinions on the ending like we have ours… i have read all the posts and read them with thinking this person has the same knowlegde and insght on the show and the person who claims to be an ex writer for the show… also why does it matter that libby and other chracters were in the church, would it have made the ending better if we replace juliet with mr. ecko…The church was for the people we had the emotional connection with while watcing the show… this is just my opinions about one of the greatest shows ive ever watched and hate hearing the bashing that is going on with it, it could be worse they could have went with an ending like the sopranos

mike &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

Techniquelly, the island wasnt pergatory, the sideways was… He said everything that happened on the island was real and really happened… cutting corners to confuse the audience, sure was

mike &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

richard convinced juliet to come to the island and he was jacobs number 2

mike &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

juliet was in and out of her sideways when she said it worked… just like when widmore put desmond in his electromagnetic machine in the last season, desmond saw his sideways… the bomb must have done the same electromagnetic type thing to juliet when she survived the bomb

CJ &dash;
June 1, 2010 &dash;

She was dying. That’s why her consciousness was moving between the real world and Sideways. That was just a red herring. Turned out that she wasn’t talking about the bomb on the island – she was talking about Sawyer unplugging the candy machine and having the chocolate bar drop down automatically when it was plugged back in.

mike &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

The numbers that hurley kept seeing were the numbers jacob gave each canidate on the wheel, before jack broje it, and in the cave that the MIB showed to sawyer.. i had to double check that when i saw it but they match up… i wouldnt read to much into doomsday theories or anything else significate with the numbers… maybe hurley seeing the numbers for the canidates played a thought of him being the number 1 for protecting the island

Cass &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

I think your right. I mean how many shows do you know that have ended and people are still talking about it a week later.

Eko found his peace and his soul presumably moved on when he was killed. He was not one of the “group of connected souls” so he didn’t wait in purgatory (Sideways World) for the rest of them before entering the after-life.

Sean &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

The island was always purgatory, “and we all know it!”

lheydon &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

“…The conceit that the writers created…”

Now that’s what I call a Freudian slip! :-)

Kam7369 &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

My view on the “sideways” world is that Jack HAD to save / fix John Locke. It was probably part of him moving on. By killing him on the island ( albeit MIB Locke ) Jack wanted to get John Locke back to the way he knew him.

What I am surprised about is how no one has mentioned that the people who had those sentimental moments ( Did you feel that? Charlie? Claire? etc) were people who had 1 person die on the island or both….Sawyer lost Juliet on island, Claire lost Charlie, Sayid ( evenetually died ) met Shannon, Sun and Jin and of course Kate lost Jack.

The “church” was multi faith as can be seen in the window art behind Jack as he is near the coffin. Even as he enters you can see ornaments, literature, pictures and clear identity of different faiths. It is a nice touch to the non atheists amongst us that despite what we believe in, who we believe in what name we give to an Almighty being, that we are the same. We live, we die nd the good amongst us will go to heaven.

In our lives we meet many people and there is hope that we will meet them again. Jac has the chance to finally moveonwhen he admits to his father,”I died”. At that realisation it affirms that he was looking tomake amends in his purgatory…Locke’s operation.

Lots of questions still not answered, but I hpe the above is identifiable by a few others….( Not THE others! )

Eli &dash;
May 30, 2010 &dash;

I haven’t watched any Lost episodes except the finale (my sister is a fan and talked me into watching the it with her). Even though I only basically knew the storyline of the plane crash, I was able to figure out the reasoning behind the finale episode pretty easily, which matched the explanation of the writer. I believe him when he states the finale was thought out from the beginning because it makes sense from a religious point of view that everyone has to make peace with their lives and loved ones before moving on to the next “phase” of existence. Their experiences on the island helped them acheive that. All the nitpicking about things that went on during various seasons come from the fact that JJ Abrams and the writers didn’t know how long the show would be on the air. They probably didn’t know it would get ratings to last as long as it did, so they had to think up plot devices and storylines to keep the narative going, add twists and turns to keep audiences interested. But, in the end, they kept with the original ending. That’s why many plot twists aren’t explained or don’t make sense.

Jane &dash;
May 30, 2010 &dash;

How did the polar bear got on the island?

CJ &dash;
June 1, 2010 &dash;

The Dharma Initiative brought the polar bears to the island and held them at the Hydra Station. They used them to turn the donkey wheel that moves the island. Which is why the skeleton of one of the bears was found in the desert in Tunisia by Charlotte.

Steven Tu &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

What a crazy article. While I liked the sentiment, it just isn’t good enough to say “oh but the show wasn’t about the science”. That’s completely BS.

I’m going to go read more Dark Tower, and hopefully that’ll end up with more answers than LOST.

Veg123 &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

I disagree completely about the Dharma Initiative. Why would Jacob bring a group of people who were planning on running experiments? That’s exactly what his brother and his buddies tried to do, and they all were murdered as well. The mother did it in the name of protecting the island and Jacob did as well. Their experiments risked ruining the integrity and balance of the island that had to be kept quite concise. Ben really did get those orders from Jacob. I’m thinking that Whitmore sent the Initiative, having already been to island and knowing how to get them there. He had a ton of money to fund them too. Would explain the fued between him and Ben as well.

it’s a bit disingenuous to argue that you stated at the beginning that you did not write this as if it excuses the facts that (1) you do not link at all to the source of this article but instead (2) copied and pasted the content into your site as if you had received the material personally from its source, and (3) you follow the post with an ABOUT THE AUTHOR bio that is your own bio. when you post material taken entirely from somewhere else, it is appropriate to link to the site where you obtained it, and not just vaguely mention that you did not write it.

One must grasp that all operations of consciousness occur with mathematical precision. Consequently, no ‘blanks’ are allowed within our personal narratives, our ‘life stories’.

One factor to keep in mind in analysis of LOST, as well as in our ‘real world’, is this: Nothing occurs without an antecedent.

The chronic alcoholic and the psychotic ‘fill in the blanks’ in their stories by a process called ‘confabulation’. It seems to me that this also occurs in our ordinary dreams. Much of the ‘nonsensical’ factors of the plot of LOST are accountable by this means; each of the characters are frequently confronted by rather monumental ‘unknowns’, and the process of confabulation manufactures ‘facts’ which would (ideally) ‘explain’ those unknowns. And quite naturally, the viewers are flummoxed by such confabulations, and lately, demand ‘logical answers’.

The discovery of the ‘hatch’ and the ‘Dharma Initiative’ serve that end; as one digs deeper into an incomprehensible ‘reality’ (the entire life on the island), apparent ‘explanations’ are discovered, but each lead only deeper into the mystery of the Bardo.

Jung might observe that the ‘hatch’ and other (modern and ancient) underground features of the island, represent a necessary descent into the ‘unconscious’ of the characters, notably Jack. In that realm (the unconscious) such fantastical events such as immortality, gods and monsters are to be expected; and each of those serves as pivotal ciphers in the mathematical unfolding of the reality of the Bardo.

Overall, the writers of LOST seem to have a reasonable grasp of the symbology of the human unconscious; eg, how each symbol exists only if it is useful and important, especially when serving as placeholders which (confabulation-wise) bridge the gap between the familiar and the unexpected and unknown.

Indeed, this same ‘system’ is at work in all of us right now. We choose to ‘believe’ (faith) and also to want proofs (science) which will serve, at least temporarily, to ‘explain’ the mysteries we all face. Jack’s ‘character weakness’ was his hidebound ‘faith in science’, which was gradually eroded to nothing, by his final scenes. Locke served the role of seeker via his quest, and thus stimulated everyone to transcend their own inertia. But FLocke was the ‘finder’ whose certainty matched Jack’s; and thus is was appropriate the Jack killed FLocke, for certainty (the unchanging) is the enemy of evolution and change. By killing FLocke, Jack re-attained his own proper state, innocence.

Remember; mathematical precision as aided by confabulation. It does not seem like much of a good thing, until you figure that it is all we really have. The placeholders of imaginary antecedents are merely ad-hoc theories, which will mutate (magically, seemingly) eventually into a coherent ‘reality’. But we must keep in mind, what was revealed in the final episode; the reality we actually have may not be the one we assumed.

The plot and characters of LOST are or were in no better or worse position, than we all are, right now. I thank the series writers for having the courage to avoid ‘selling out’ and to carry forward with the fantastical Dharma/Bardo theme to which we have been witness for the past several years.

The real heartbreak comes when we belatedly realize just how much of our stories we have ‘made up’. We hope, and blame, based on confabulated plot-lines. LOST has as none other, illustrated this principle in a manner as thundering as Shakespeare.

Success!

==GP==

Meg &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

Excellent explanation….

Verissima &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

LOST was wonderful. Cried throughout! So my theory is less complicated. I’m guessing they all died in the initial plane crash. The island was purgatory (right from the start) and they had to make some choices on the island that would take them to heaven or hell. In purgatory you are tempted by good and evil. Good – Jacob. Evil – MIB. The sideways and future scenes are smoke and mirror parallel channels of your previous life – here they seek redemption. Things you learn in purgatory – you can apply to a sideways attempt of second live that will eventually help you get to the gateway of heaven.

Jack, Hurley, Sawyer and Juliet scenes were excellent!

Don’t have answers to many of the obvious questions though but my ending makes sense to me.

I’m going to miss LOST.

chip &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

It seems to me that everyone who liked the show, and its ending has basically the same philosophy about what happened. Thankfully I share these opinions.

There are questions that were left unanswered, but as someone (or many people stated) those were things that each individual could decide for themselves.

My biggest question is: Didn’t Charlie awaken in the sideways purgatory world twice? He said he first did wile choking on a baggie of heroin. Afterall he showed Desmond by crashing the car into the water. Yet he seems to be all but clueless again until the finale when Claire delivers the baby???

I hope this question does not sound as foolish as some of the above that were posted by people who clearly didnt “watch” the show. Like they said in White Men Cant Jump….. you are listening to Jimmy, but you can’t hear him. Some people just don’t get it…

Thanks

sexy mc,sexington &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

in my personal opinion, i think that the ending was purposefully done so that questions were left unanswered so that the viewer (you) could decide for yourselves what happened.

Cindy &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

I,myself,agree with some of the ideas… but disagree with most. Unfortunately I called it after episode one (Much like the writers… )but still… a wonderful journey. The island… as we know was purgatory. They had to reconcile their own lives before they could move on. Demons…goodness…characters good and bad. The whole idea is there was no Black and white “good” or evil. Evil (MIB) was a gray shade at best. He did “evil” things…but he wasn’t ALL evil or always evil… (as we know… Jacob made him what he was.) With that said… Jacob was deffinetly not all good. He killed alot of people in “protecting” the island. He killed his brother… and was JEALOUS of his brothers relationship with the fake and evil mama herself. Thats a whole lot of reasons why Jacob doesn’t just corner the market on “goodness”. So with that said… Like every Individual character that was on the island… there was good and evil IN each and everyone of them. The hope and the journey is… find the goodness inside of yourself… be at PEACE with that part of you and move on… Mr. Echo was at peace with that part… Desmond had taken that journey (partly when he was a Monk) and not only was at peace with his life journey and purpose…but understood that there was more to HIM…and humans themselves… and what he could accomplish and withstain. For those people who are saying this was “jacks journey” they are right… But in part… the people who were IMPORTANT in Jacks journey get brought in to show us more of them too… because he is EQUALLY instrumental in their lives. The idea that they “lived” on the island… well they are “alive” spirit wise…wherever… the journey’s end… and the journey began… They died in the plane crash (hence Claire could not feel the baby moving). Aaron is a baby because the people on that journey knew his soul.. They had “met” him when he was BORN on the island. He was never 3…because they never LEFT the island. Juliet died in the explosion on the island… because she was on the island to take the journey with those people. (how is that possible…? Because like the voices… floating around on the island forever… Once they were IN purgatory… they were on this journey until they were settled on the side of GOOD or evil. The Dharma group was not evil… it was a group of Scientists trying to test tube Gods (the Islands) powers. So Charles Widmore Elly…etc…knew… but didn’t matter if they were good or evil in the end. They just knew what the place was… Poor Ben was Duped along with Richard… Hurley was doing for Ben what in essence he had done for Sayid… Showed him he wasn’t “bad” or all bad… and there was more too him… I hope this helped… I think the show was brilliant… sad that it ended… and I think it showed there were lots of Gray areas… nothing is never just “Good or evil”.

Fc &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

So many opinions… to me it was beautifull, inspiring and, of couerse, not everything makes sense but… what does? I got most of it… Ben staying got me a little confussed so, great explanation! What about Juliet’s comment “it worked” I guess some were really paying attention…Thanks for sharing Stu… I am sorry u have so many people complaining to u about the post… I guess they missed u saying u had nothing to do with it… well, I guess that is why so many don’t get it, some of us are really “Lost” ;)

John D. &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

Good effort, but I don’t believe for one second that this was written by a writer from the show. Sorry. At the very LEAST, a professional writer (of ANYTHING, not just teleplays) wouldn’t be making grammatical and/or spelling errors.

I mean, seriously…

“blantent?” “waivered?” “purposley?” “writer’s?”

Really?

I spell better than that and I’m NOT a professional writer.

Yeah, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say the author of this article was NOT a writer for the show (or for any other show, for that matter). And if he is, he’s probably an unemployed one.

It’s an ok explanation, and all, but it doesn’t give us much that we couldn’t have already gleaned from carefully thinking things through for ourselves. I suspect that when Cuse and Lindelof DO break their current period of self-imposed “silence” and start answering questions about the finale, it’ll be somewhat different than this analysis.

Dave &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

I have a hard time believing the writer of this was one of the “writers” (and not “writer’s”, as the author of this claims). Nothing wrong with the content, but sorry– you’re just not a writer… run a grammar/spell check next time and you’ll be more convincing

Curtis &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

A good synopsis that catches what too many people who are paid to review tv shows completely missed. A couple of things I disagree on:

As many have pointed out, there were many non Season 1 people in the church (Desmond, Penny, Libby, Bernard, etc.). I think it had as much to do with the actors as the characters.

I don’t believe that the MiB had anything to do with Ben’s corruption. In fact, wasn’t he trapped in the cabin by the ring of ash during that period? Anyway, I think Ben was a mistake by Richard. After Ben “died”, he was brought back to life in the same way as Sayid and Claire were, which brought out the dark side of his character. So he was probably affected by the same negative energies that created the MiB from Jacob’s brother, but was not actually influenced by the MiB until he appeared as Locke.

CJ &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

Smokey had everything to do with Ben’s corruption and Ben’s corruption was extremely significant. Ben truly believed he was following Jacob. And I think he was a dutiful servant of Jacob for a long time. Ben was manipulative, and he wasn’t particularly nice to others when achieving his goals. But Jacob wasn’t always wanting nice things. And Ben was a faithful servant. Heck, he killed off his family and everyone he knew in the Dharma Initiative on Jacob’s order.

The crisis point came when Alex was shot. Ben thought she was protected. Directly by Jacob, or because of some vague “rules” of the island. Once Alex was torn from his life, he gave into his rage and desire for revenge and went over to the dark side and summoned the Smoke Monster. Smokey does nothing for free. Ben owed him a big favor for carrying out that act of vengence on Alex’s murderers.

And that situation paid off well for Smokey because later, not only was Smokey able to fan the flames of Ben’s wounded pride for not being recognized as the good, faithful soldier to Jacob that he felt himself to have been, but Ben knew of the two who he’d been able to count on when things got bad, and so on some level Ben knew he OWED Smokey too. That all contributed to Ben’s ultimate corruption (turning traitor), and Smokey being able to finally manipulate Jacob’s death.

Jon &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

if you did not like the end you obviously did not LET GO and you should be on the look out for Desimond because if running you over with a car is the only way to get you to LET GO then Desimond will do it by the way the church was not a church it was the Lamp Post and that is what ties it all together

Brandy &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

In regards to Stu Greenham’s explanation, he doesn’t say much about the previous protector of the island brutally murdering the twins’ mother and taking her babies, to raise as her own. I guess she was one of the “bad” people coming to exploit the island and steal the light, however, why was she able to give birth on the island? Was it just people who became pregnant on the island that could not give birth? Did Sun become pregnant on the island or before they got there?

What was the mojo that prevented Jacob and the MIB from being able to kill each other? Did their fake, murderer mom create that rule? I thought Jacob was more peaceful that that and just wanted to contain his brother on the island, not find candidates or other people to kill him. It was clear that the MIB wanted to kill Jacob and escape and had to do it through other people, and was able to talk to them, where as Jacob chose not to. So, was that the MIB pretending to be Jacob that spoke with whomever was telling Ben what to do? (Since Ben said he never saw Jacob. Did he hear Jacob?) Also, the MIB didn’t really seem evil for any particular reason. He just seemed like a more curious teenager than Jacob and was upset (rightly so) when he discovered his “mom” had murdered his real mother, etc. I have to watch Across the Sea, again, because I feel like they made us sympathize with the MIB. Why did the island travel through time? Did some people die on the island, as shown, and did some die later, naturally, and they all just ended up together? Jack and Juliet never had a son, but Sun did? Did they really fly back to the island?

el &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

@DanF – I agree with you, almos completely. The main reason why is because the writers – from very early on – have let us know that Jack was originally written to die in the pilot. I believe they told us the truth and given your description – Jack REALLY DID DIE in the pilot. The writers told us the finale from day one…. All the rest of the seasons were just his visualizations. I do disagree in one area though – I do think the original Oceanic flight crashed and that is what he died from. I believe the plane he sees flying overhead in the finale is the rescue plane, taking whoever survived (those NOT in the church???) safely home. Still a ton of inconsistancies out there but if you go with this theory, it really doesn’t matter. :) Still, a great show.

rana &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

i dont remember about locke, was Helen there in the church?

Dan &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

Desmond and Penny are not in Season 1. Neither appear in the series until Season 2.

rana &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

I believe libby was in the church because hurley found his soul mate and she did too.

i believe all ppl who found their soul mate were in the church

Threepwood &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

The idea of living together is a beautiful scenario. Each and everyone in the story had to somehow grow and mature. The relationships among themselves were the key for this growth to happen. The “sideways afterlife” thing was just too weak for me. You see, we all have a purpose in this world. The saddest thing is to believe that we are meant to be born, grow, get old and die. There’s much more to that than many preach out there. We hurt, we cry, we fear, truth is the issue in living on this Earth is because we’re meant to live eternally without suffering. There’s much more to what we think may be good enough. I don’t want to live accepting that our lives are just meant to end as we die. But i also cannot accept a lame theory that believes in purgatory and a purposeless suffering “afterlife”. People, please!!! Review you concepts. Even in watching Lost , for I’m a big fan, i have to say the purgatory life idea was just too weak, it has always been. Check out your Bibles, …please, have some more instruction and fully learn what we’re really doing on this earth. Do you, whoever is criticizing or defending the purgatory theory, have any idea what you’re on this earth for? If not then, you should learn it.

CJ &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

That’s why this is a fictional story. Not an instruction book for what to believe or how to live your life. A good story does not require you to hold the same beliefs as the writer(s). You only need to buy into the rules of their reality while enjoying the story (understand them, not necessarily agree with them). It doesn’t have to be a personally relevant parable for you. It can just be entertainment. Maybe it provokes thought, maybe it doesn’t.

In the show I don’t think they were saying that life and suffering were purposeless at all. I think they were in fact saying that our experiences, and especially our relationships to others, and the process of working through issues in life were necessary for the growth of our souls.

The writers were saying, don’t get caught up in the details and miss the overall bigger goal/point.

Which… may be great in philosophy but it’s a cheat when it comes to good, solid writing. A good writer (or collection of writers of a story) should be able to accomplish both things – create a great overall arch that is composed of a collection of smaller events/episodes that make sense in the grander scheme and don’t contradict one another. The episodes are the building blocks of the arch. They matter or the message of the arch gets lost.

rana &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

Jacob could leave because he is the protector of the island. MIB can’t leave because the protector is still alive.

Frank &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

And how was it that Jacob could leave to island, to touch the recruits, but not MiB?

Barb &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

Libby wasn’t a season1 character, was she? (Was she?) But she was in the church at the end…

Cass &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

No Libby wasn’t in season 1, but she was connected to Hurley in the sense that she was his soulmate.

Learn to spell &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

re: “the writer’s took it even further this season”

Here’s a mystery for you to solve: Why do you think the plural of “writer” is “writer’s”? Seriously. What is up with putting an apostrophe before the s when you pluralize a simple noun? Is it really THAT diffficult to understand that you just put an s after the word? That there’s a “writer” and there are “writers”? There’s a thing and there are things, not thing’s?

mel &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

And the people (Kate, Sawyer etc.) did get off the island, as Jack always wanted. They went on to live their lives in the real world, and then after death, they moved onto the “sideways world” where they all reconnected. They had to wait for everyone to move on.

Really nice ending, Jack was a hero and did what he always wanted to do, he saved people in his profession and on the island.

mel &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

The writer said only characters from Season 1 and when you stop for a moment and think about this it is very true! -Desmond was in the church as his failing to push the button resulted in our Lostaways crashing on the island -Penny was obvisouly there because of her strong connection with Desmond…how could he move on without his soulmate? -Juliet was there because of her and Sawyer’s relationship…They were my favourite couple and how could anyone expect either of them would truly be able to move on without the other! :)

DanF &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

I like your attempt to put togther that which can not fit. A great read, but not what I saw. Jack’s eye opens and we begin. There is nothing we can say before that. Flashback forward sideways all come from a world where the first thing is that eye opening. I submit there was only one character who called himself jack and saw himself as a hero from the start. The story of Lost is him coming to terms with his own death -after all, it’s what his father reveals in the climax. He fantasizes a lifetime between his eye opening and his eye closing.All that happened in his mind as he lay dying–and we can’t say from what. We know he fantasizes a plane crash but was that the cause or was he 90 years old with cancer? We can’t know and I submit it doesn’t matter. The many names from history and philosophy are dragged forth from his apparently educated mind and the story becomes a heroes quest with him saving the world as he passes out of this life at peace. Thus a bazillion inconsistencies need no explanation. None of it was “real” beyond the hero we know as Jack’s believing it. After so long he was a new man in new clothes. The aging of the shoe and the arrival of the dog seemed to delight him and show him it was all real-but we can see otherwise. As for the plane overhead I saw that as his final success- the plane didn’t even crash. (it wasn’t the same plane as the adjira-the wingtips weren’t bent- different model plane) I thought it was a great ending – the alternative being so supernatural convoluted and irreconcilable as to be a waste of my last 6 years.

shanny &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

I can’t believe some of the questions some people are asking! especially the ones that are bashing the show. The more comments I read, the more I realized that a lot of people were not really watching the show, seeing the symbolism, listening to the dialogues, connecting previous information to new pieces of information. All the important answers were there,But I guess that’s the beauty of these types of shows, everyone has to discover it by themselves.

Frank &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

If someone else noted this in the 168 comments, forgive the repetition. The writer, purportedly someone from Bad Robot, says the only people in the church at the end were season 1 people. But Libby was there with Hurley, and she wasn’t from season 1.

jac &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

Were there actually 3 realities? Perhaps the “next life/universe” after the church purgatory-like gathering ( when Christian went out the door into the light) represented the 3rd/alternate/afterlife universe/ whatever. The finale proposed a happy idea, but all the faith vs science, soul-mate hooking up, good/evil dichotomy had already been written into most of the episodes throughout all the seasons and many avid fans kept claiming that the ending would be about purgatory -> judgement day -> ascension into Heaven or Nirvana, The cop out is that it just seems like an everyday Catholic bible lesson. Pointing out the obvious doesn’t make for a good wrap up after 6 seasons of detailed mysteries have been set up for sci-fi/fantasy adventure and then not resolved.

But then, folks, it is just a TV show. We can forgive and forget or wax nostalgic for awhile. The Sopranos is still a good TV show even though it did not give the viewers a satisfying ending.

Jason &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

This was a great article that helped minimize my confusion and frustration over the entire series. I’m actually excited to watch the finale again with these new ideas. Thank you so much for posting it (and thanks to my friend Mike for sending me the link).

From my personal feelings and from what I’ve read, I think my disappointment comes from being more a man of science than faith and I wanted concrete answers. I’m sure those of faith are the ones that LOVED the finale…there you have it… science vs faith. Who knew!

Spaz 70 &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

I still dont understand, when Jack is dying on the island he looks up at the sky and see the plane flying off, wouldnt that suggest that the people on the plane escaped and would be free from purgatory universe. What did Hurly and ben go and do when they were left on the island as number 1&2?

CJ &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

The island wasn’t purgatory, Sideways was purgatory. The island was “real”. Jack’s sacrifice allowed some of his friends to fly away from the island and live out the rest of their lives back home.

They all went to Sideways at the end of their respective lives. The people on the plane died long after Jack.

Hurley and Ben weren’t in the plane. They remained on the island, possibly for hundreds of years since Hurley was immortal and the new protector of the island, and may have possibly granted Ben immortality too, so he could act as his assistant, kind of a variant on the relationship Richard had with Jacob. Hurley being Hurley, he was far more social and less suspicious of others than Jacob had been, so the relationship with Ben was likely much more of a partnership than Jacob’s had been with Richard.

rana &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

I just hope they will make another end :D which is really impossible but i hope so coz i love lost :(

Rand &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

This was not written by a writer who worked on Lost. This was written by someone who worked at Bad Robot, but had as much significance to Lost “as a stapler” (in his own words).

So, this explanation is nothing but just another random fan’s opinion. You may still like it and agree with it, but it is no more “correct” than any other fan’s opinion.

You really should correct your post, post a retraction, and notify your own source of their mistake.

Stu Greenham &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

I disagree, I found this online, it made sense to me so I thought I would share it with my friends via my website, I read it and for me, it made sense, wrong or right it still cleared up a few things to me and like alot of others I can let this go, I enjoyed the show, watched it from start to finish and not going to nit pick the rest. Also, I state at the top of the post I did not write this post, I am simply sharing what I found after doing some Google work, if you don’t like it then by all means go elsewhere :)

Chloe &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

One more point about Aaron as it relates to this part of Stu’s original post:

According to the show, everyone creates their own “Sideways” purgatory with their “soulmates” throughout their lives and exist there until they all move on together.

While it makes sense that Aaron was an important part of the Losties lives while on the island — by the time Aaron died, were the Losties really all that important to Aaron? He was a baby on the island. Seems he would have lived his life and had those who were important to HIM and “moved on” at some point with them.

No?

Victor &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

What is the huge understanding problem, people are having with the flash sideways?? Christian said “There is no NOW here”. There is no concept of time or anything, and its all pretend. It was just an elaborate mindf@ck they set up, so they could find eachother when they die. And the fact that no time exists there, is why people could die 100’s of years apart, yet still meet up in the flash sideways at the same time. Because THERE IS NO TIME.

Jacks kid didnt get screwed over. He isnt real. Its just something that was made up, to help them all find eachother. If Jack never had a kid in the sideways flash, then he mightve never gone to the concert, and found Kate. Everything in the flash sideways, was set up, so they would eventually meet eachother.

Clearly this is far fetched, and takes a little bit of letting go, to just accept it for what it is. But nobody had a problem accepting a smoke monster, flying around the jungle killing people. So whats the big problem now??

CJ &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

Jack’s son was someone Jack constructed in his sideways reality to help him resolve his “daddy issues”. Sideways was all about resolving personal issues and readying oneself to move on to the after-life. Jack’s fear was that his relationship with his father had messed him up so badly, that he himself wouldn’t even know how to be a good father. I think there were a couple of times in the series where Jack indicated that he never wanted to be a father. When he and the other Oceanic 6 escaped back to the “real world” he ended up being a broken man, a drunk, unfit to be anyone’s father. It was only on the island that he was able to do the work to become the man he wanted to be. His experience in Sideways finished that process, and allowed him to see that he did have what it took to be a good father to someone, that he wasn’t destined to fail as his own father had failed with him, and it allowed him to make his own peace with his father and lose his all-consuming anger towards him. His sideways resolutions are what allowed Jack to move on.

Chloe &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

I apologize if this was covered in the lengthy number of replies (I conly got through about half of them)…

People keep raising the issue of Aaron still being a baby. Well, look at Kate and Sawyer. Unless they died right after flying off the island…they should be old (however old they were when they died). But they are not. Everyone in the church is as they were when when everyone was together on the island..

Rita &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

Aaron being a baby made no sense. We already saw him as a kid, not a baby. So why was he a baby at the end?

CJ &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

The point of sideways world was to be a place where each character could finish resolving his/her personal issues and make their souls ready to move forward into the after-life with the rest of their soul-mate community. The people in their created realities reflected those in the period of time in their lives that was the most “significant”. Aaron was significant to the entire community while he was on the island as a baby. Most of them didn’t know him when he grew older. Their “souls” would have recognized him most easily as a baby.

Nadia &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

There were people from other seasons at the end. Juliet was from another season as was Bernard and Desmond and Penny and Libby were from other seasons too.

@Lostus &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I found the ending to be more emotional than action packed, which was great because we were on more of an emotional journey than an action packed thrill ride. Well done to the producers and writers and everyone involved. It will live forever as an epic.

Joseqwerty &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

What was the point of the entire Charles Widmore story?

CJ &dash;
May 31, 2010 &dash;

Charles Widmore was in his own way, just another Dharma – he wanted to harness the island’s power for his own benefit. He had the added benefit of having likely been a candidate in the past, so he had some added insight into the island’s workings that allowed him to be more effective than some of the previous “island foes”, but in the end, he was just another threat to the island.

Disappointed &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I understand the ending the writers gave us from an emotional standpoint. It’s a sweet thought that we all live together and die together. (Jack: “If we don’t live together, we die alone”) It’s nice to think our loved ones will be waiting for us when we die. However, I agree with a comment above that said this ending doesn’t relate to the story we’ve been watching for 6 years. The writers gave us a sort of “use your imagination about what this was all about cause we don’t know —- the important thing is they all find each other in the end” I would disagree about that being the important thing in regards to the concept of the show. So many characters were just tossed aside; Richard, Miles, Daniel, Eloise. I feel cheated in that respect. The writers may have had this ending 6 years ago but it doesn’t relate to the story we were given. It would have been much better if the bomb explosion had worked (Juliette: “It worked”) and sideways world was actually how life was when there was no island. Then they find each other and have these weird flashbacks because they actually had been on the island. ALSO; One big question for me: We were told Jacob chose these people and made the plane crash however we were also led to believe Desmond made the plane crash when he didn’t push the button on time. The problem began when they kept introducing new characters with new stories. It made for an unfulfilled ending. and too quote someone from above, a bit of a cop out on the writers part.

ML &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Lost originally started off as an extended Twilight Zone with interesting characters. It introduced a lot of mysteries in such a way that we were led to believe they were important to the story.

Many of these were simply dropped or never explained except occasionally in the vaguest of terms.

Furthermore the series introduced the two most important characters — the ones whose conflict is the driving force behind everything — in the last season. If Lost was reduced to a one hour show, you introduced them in the last ten minutes of the show!

Crappy plotting.

As Season 6 progressed, it seemed that the writers jettisoned any attempt to explain the literally dozens of mysteries that the series had introduced — mysteries we assumed were important to the story, given their prominence.

Instead we take a sharp turn into Biblical territory with a story about Good vs Evil, jettisoning all the Twilight Zone elements that first attracted us. (Not helped by the way with vague New Age-y references to ‘glowing lights’ accompanied by chees-y special effect…)

Nothing wrong with mixing spirituality and science. The X-Files did that well, as did Battlestar Galatica to a degree. LOST left it til way too late in the game, giving the impression that it was all being made up as it went along.

Dave &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I read a bunch of the comments but not all so sorry if someone covered this. First, I did enjoy the finale because I knew there was no way to wrap up all the unanswered questions, but they did address some of the big ones. I have three problems though. If the island was holding in the evil from escaping into the world, then when they removed the plug, why did it not escape into the world. Actually what happened was smokey became mortal and maybe that is what he needed to get off the island, but how was he going to run rampant in the world if he was mortal?

Secondly, if smokey is evil, why didn’t he kill Jack when he knocked him out at the cave? Typical Hollywood storytelling there which, IMO, sucked.

And the last point is people say faith won in the end, but I beg to differ. Yes there was some sort of afterlife experience, but what Jack did was expose the myth that the island was keeping evil from the world. The only thing the protector of the island was doing was preserving immortality for him/herself and healing for others on the island. I think Jacob’s adoptive Mother told him a myth in order to escape immortality, and Jack blew the lid off the myth when he sent Desmond down to unplug the spring of life.

I think the point was whether the characters could work through their issues, forgive themselves and literally move on.

Ben (and Sayid for that matter) killed a lot of people but they redeemed themselves by turning their lives around and sacrificing for others. It isn’t a matter of keeping a score sheet of who they killed, but a matter of them choosing to move forward from a bad place to a better place in their own personal journies.

Michael’s story was rather inconsistent, so yes it was confusing. On the one hand, on the freighter he gave his life so they other losties could survive, so you’d think that would imply redemption. He went from being almost entirely self-centered (well, concerned only about himself and Walt) to being wiling to die for others in the community. But on the other hand, we found he was later stuck on the island as a body-less whisper because he couldn’t move on. That was a contradiction, and not explained properly. Maybe the point was that although he performed a redemptive act, he could not forgive himself and move forward in his personal journey. He was still…. stuck in that place. Also, perhaps his soul wasn’t part of this group of special souls (he just interacted with them in life) so he didn’t get a pass to sideways land.

Jacob’s goal evolved. Initially it was to only perform the task his “mother” set out for him – to ensure a successor for protecting the island. But over time he realized that wasn’t enough. That in order to truly protect the island (and the world) he had to take a more active roll in killing off this evil he had brought into this world. He was not permitted to do this directly, so he too was forced to look for a loop hole. His reasons for bringing these particular candidates to the island this time was to perform both functions – ensure continued island protection and to kill off smokey.

Meaghan &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

So Ben can kill John Locke and a ton of other people in cold blood and still be let into the sideways world, but Michael kills two innocent people in order to save his son and he’s stuck on the island forever? Hmmm

And I don’t think Jacob brought the candidates to the island to kill the MIB, he brought them to replace him to protect the island from MIB. Is that the same as killing him?

rana &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

i believe dez was there because he was the constant and he reconnect all the ppl together. also he found his soul mate with penny.

i dont think they knew the finale after shooting the pilot. maybe they knew that jack will shut his eyes at end :) only

Melissa &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Sorry. I get it but the ending still sucked. Sure it’s all sweet and sappy that they all get together in the end but it doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with the 6 years of episodes we’ve been watching. If the island is still there and all that crap actually happened, then why is it shown at the bottom of the ocean in the opening scene of the final season? To me it is a cheap, lazy ending to otherwise great writing. It’s quite obvious the writers had no answers so they thought their audience would forgive and forget with a happily ever after ending. Lame.

kaneanite &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

While this COULD have been written by a Lost writer, I’m guessing it’s an article written by a fan who has good theories, but has an urge for these theories to be accepted as FACT…thus the leverage claiming he’s a LOST writer. There are inconsistencies in the article. Especially the explanation about Ben. Like many, many have said…there are a bunch of people in there who were NOT in the pilot. So the article just creates more questions.

In the end, though, I’m happy with the way things went. I personally believe that if LOST was solved 100%, it would tarnish the legacy and no matter how the writers had explained it, fans would have been unhappy. It’s just the way it is. The Island is still a mystery, and I guess it’s best left that way to leave the Lost legacy intact. That being said, I was taken by surprise by the whole ‘purgatory’ gig since they’d never introduced the element ever before, but then again, who’s to say it’s purgatory at all?

My personal theory and from what I’ve seen is…”purgatory” is yet another form of reality that the Lostaways / Losties / Oceanic survivors were able to access with Desmond’s help and via the Island’s unique properties. The Island seems to be a sort-of gateway into parallel / alternate timelines. People are able to jump between eras and possibly even universes. I’m guessing with the detonation of the hydrogen bomb compounded with the Island’s electromagnetism, everyone who has ever been on the Island (connected with it) exists simultaneously in a universe of timelessness. Christian Shepard claims “There is no Now, here.” Clearly time doesn’t exist in the Sideways. It’s more of a reality where every essential character exists in a state of the present, ready to move on into yet another reality where the timeline of the Island and the alternate universe can merge as one. Meaning, Jack has a son, but also has Kate by his side. Juliet has Sawyer, etc. That’s how I see it anyway. Hope it makes sense.

The light at the end…I doubt it’s the “white light at the end of the tunnel”. I see it as The Island’s Light. A way to merge the timeless reality with the events that took place on the Island, creating a third reality…one that allows everything to exist perfectly together.

Haven’t read all the comments, so sorry if this is a repeat. But the info about the ending and that JJ wrote it after they finished the pilot sound super cool, but Desmond wasn’t in season 1 but was in teh church.

John &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I thought Desmond was in Season 1 (he met Jack jogging), but Juliette and Penny were definitely not in Season 1, but they were in the church.

Jutsy &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

For a writer, this article has all the style and grammatical correctness of elephants stomping on a keyboard. Serioulsy, I couldn’t focus on this slapdash effort to put clothes on the Emperor retroactively, due to the shoddy writing. If that’s how the entire writing staff is/was, no wonder the show wound up being nonsensical and abortive, and how the creators and writers are falling over themselves saying that of COURSE it ended just the way they wanted it to, etc.. Nonsense, all of it. I wish Bad Robot studios blew up after the end of Season 5 so we could all have happy memories and talk about better what-ifs for all time.

Note to aspiring TV writers currently interning with Bad Robot’s PR department: When a character spells out in words information that viewers figured out a year ago, that is not not “BRILLIANT” writing.

So “sideways world” was purgatory? Then it could have been set anywhere; it could have been a blank white universe, or floating in space, or a thousand years in the future. The only possible reason to set it in modern-day LA is to fool the audience. After five years of pulling off some great twists without ever resorting to “it was all a dream” nonsense, Lost had really built up some capital with their audience. Which made the 11th hour deceit all the more cheap.

Michael couldn’t “move on” because of what he did, but Sayid–who spent season six snapping innocent necks for Smokey–could? In which religious philosophy would that be acceptable, exactly? Other than The Church of Half-Baked Hollywood Easy Answers?

And, of course, as others have pointed out, plenty of people not from season 1 were in the church, so that statement is just nonsense. Certainly, the writers did some great work over the course of the show (although “slaved” is a comical overstatement. Try and have a little perspective on how most people in the world live, could you?), but it’s quite hard to forgive this last season. It almost invalidates all the great stuff that came before.

1) We most certainly do know that Dharma had at least one candidate in their ranks: Horace Goodspeed. His name was (crossed off) on the wall.

2) As others have pointed out, not everyone in the church was form Season 1.

3) Ben clearly chose not to enter the church, he said so to both Locke and Hurley. My guess is that he wanted to stay with Alex, but that’s the dad in me talking.

4) Jack was the last one to “let go,” so how exactly did he save everyone in the sideways universe? Desmond saved them, pure and simple.

Chrissy &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Didn’t Richard pull Ben away from Dharma when Ben was a kid?? If that was MIB working through Ben to kill Dharma, why was Richard involved if he “worked” for Jacob?

Tim &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I know this is supposedly written by a Lost Robot writer involved with the finale, but I have to admit that, although the ideas here are excellent, the spelling and grammar errors are off-putting. I would think that a writer would have better control of the English langauge or would at least proofread the post before submitting it for publication online.

jmrowland &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I’m saying.

Dalibor Lanik &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I watched this show from season 2 (saw s1 and s2 at once) so that is for 5 years. I really liked it. Charachters are great, and the plot was interesting. But from season 2 or 3 I had the impression that the authors, in order to make more money, are prolonging the show to 6 seasons and ofcourse, they have to introduce more and more mysteries. I expected to be dissapointed, the same way I was dissapointed with other series I really loved – Twin Peaks.

I guess we Europeans are not so religious as people from USA (if at all). So for me and most of my friends the religious end sucked big time. Purgatory, you go on with your friends… love connects all… good and evil…. what a load of crap! You die and then there’s nothing.

OK, this is just a tv series, and I am willing to take the explanations the authors gave us, because all of it is fiction and impossible, so I’ll view it as a work of (science) fiction. This post really explains some things, and I must admit that the major things are explained well, and it all fits. But there are various things that side-tracked the series, used just as a temporary bait to hook viewers, later abandoned… it is to be expected, as the show lasted for 6 years and producers want to make as much $ as they can. But I’m willing to forget all this. Also, I don’t understand the posts about people complaining “why was Aaron a baby in the church” or why are there people that are not is Season 1. C’mon! The show is not about seasons! It is about who is connected to whom. And AAron is a baby because you WOULDN’T RECOGNIZE HIM if he was an adult! Aslo, what about writer’s artistic freedom?

But what I can’t really take, in the explanation of the purgatory. This concept is completely flawed. There is no time in purgatory? Then how come they MEET one another? They created alternative universes (lives) in purgatory. But if Jack was there for a month, and Kate for 40 years, there is no way they can have a common “storyline”… Their universes must be then different! There is no way alternative universe/purgatory is the same for everyone and is consistent. And yet they interact with each other and viewer gets the sense of “storyline” there….

just my 2 (very devaluated) euro-cents’ worth :)

John &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

You’re kidding, right? How can you not grasp the timeless in-between? The moment you die, you wake up in a place/time that is everywhere/always or nowhere/never – wherever/whenever. He explained the concept of soulmates, which can also be explained to mean that they were there all along (alt) and that’s how they found each other. They were always meant to find each other in life because they knew each other so well in death. Mayhap you need some great books on philosophy to tide you over on this one… stretch your mind some…

Rageohol &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

anyone else thinking (hoping) Claire and Kate were gonna start a little girl-on-girl thing waiting to die and re-hook up with Jack?

there is no porgatory in the bible… the correct term for this is Abraham’s bosom. look it at wiki or google it. thats the after life at that church, where people can wait for other people their love ones or not till the judgement day comes.

Susofdisbelief &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

They may be in a church of some kind at the end but you’re sadly mistaken if you’re somehow trying to understand Lost in terms of the the bible. The writer’s of Lost are fully aware that virtually every concept in the bible predates christianity.

JK &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

@mars above… agreed with they way you look at it.

But also did anyone wonder if there were actually 3 timelines and not just the 2? You could argue that there possibly could be:

1) Main island storyline that really happens. Jack is cut on the neck by Locke/MIB just before killing him. 2) In the final episode in the “limbo/purgatory”, after Jack completes the operation on Locke, his neck is again bleeding in the same spot. 3) In the alternate reality where the plane (Flight 316) flies over the island which is now on the bottom of the ocean, Jack is again bleeding in the same spot on his neck.

Marla &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

More points to ponder: Aaron is in the church with Clair and Charlie, so is he dead? If not, then why isn’t Jin and Sun’s daughter there. Also why isn’t Charlie (Penny and Desmond’s son) there too? Why does Jack have a son in the sideways world but not in the real world. Do you get to make up people you wish were in your life?

Quan &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I heard that Walt grew to 6 feet tall and couldn’t put him in the finale. His appearance changed too much. Kinda understandable esp with Claire’s baby explanation. Everybody here would have been in an uproar if we saw Walt the way he is today.

Susofdisbelief &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

The only reason one would think that Walt should’ve been in the finale is if they believed that everyone died in the original, first episode, plane crash. Correct?

Nate &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I think this gets a lot of the faith/sideways-afterlife issues correct, and is right about what was “real” and “not real,” but Jim/Mr. Cluck has the details above more correct than the original post.

Amy &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

If the Man In Black was already dead, why did Jack have to “kill” him AGAIN?

And I agree with others. I believe that the writer of this article had NOTHING to do with LOST.

Zoe &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Jack didn’t kill MIB, he had to kill the Smoke Monster… but because of the light he was unable to do so… Both “Flocke” and “Jack” needed the same thing: Desmond’s ability to turn the light out… for Flocke that would cause the island to sink, for Jack that would enable “Flocke” to lose his “immortal-like” power to live… therefore enabling Jack to kill him… it was a “race against time” to see who would have their plan carried out first… Desmond pulled the “plug” on the light and set BOTH plans into motion… but in order for Jack to save the island and put a wrench in Smokey’s plan, he would have to die putting the plug back in…

TS Elliott &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I have so many issues with the show and finale that it is hard to categorize them or list them. Every time I think of something that I forgot about – then I forget the things that I was already thinking of. I know that didn’t make sense, but that is how the majority of the Lost episodes were.

I was immediately addicted to the show because of all the mystery and cliff hangers, but I didn’t keep watching because I wanted to feel uncertainty the rest of my life. I watched year after year in hopes that all of the things I didn’t understand would eventually make sense. That was never the case, but I watched anyway. I guess towards the end, I watched because I became attached to the characters and I just wanted to know what the big secret of the island really was.

So, now that it is over – I have so many emotions that I feel like I definitely took the show way too serious for too long. When I say that I became attached to the characters, I maybe went too far. I believed that the writers had a plan and it would all work out. Big mistake.

But the thought of the show not coming back for another season really makes me sad. I cried during the entire last episode. When I think about what made me cry – I don’t think it was the story. Sure, the acting was fantastic – but the Lost characters and story lines were such a huge part of my families entertainment, that now I feel like we will be missing something. It is like moving away from the best neighbors in the world and never seeing them again. My family would sit and talk about what was happening on Lost year after year and now it is all over. I think that is why I was crying so much. It is the idea that the Lost part of my life is totally over. Over without a purpose or closure. And the worst part is that I have seen every episode over and over again – so I know I didn’t miss anything that I get to secretly watch later on to look for clues. Ok, enough about me. I will try to explain some of my plot issues. Although I feel like my comment is already as long as a blog!! LOL

1. Did anyone ever explain where the numbers came from for season 1 and why they gave Hurley bad luck? Yeah, I know what happened when they didn’t punch them in, but how did the numbers get picked and Why were they bad luck for so many people?

2. If Jack performed surgery on Locke in the final episode then went to the concert then to the church to find out he was dead — Um, how can a dead guy perform surgery on um another dead guy?

3. If everyone in the church was dead, then why did Ben say he wasn’t ready and then stay outside? Is Ben a ghost or is he still alive? I get what they are saying about purgatory, but their purgatory concept sucks for me. You can murder people, go to jail, have surgery, break out of jail all while you are dead but your soul is living in purgatory – but its not your purgatory. It is just a place someone made up in their minds or spirit because they haven’t accepted death or haven’t been aloud to pass over yet???? What???

4. If Jack was dead in all of the sideways – was he making up his reality? I just don’t get when he “died” because if the sideways is purgatory then why would there be mystery people there i.e. Jacks son and John’s wife? What is up with “purgatory” or sideways being like the island never happened and the bomb went off in the 70’s but having nothing to do with “The Island”- but all the people from the island have to crossover together. Ugggg

5. Is it just me or was it like they were implying he died in the original crash – season 1 episode 1 when he opened his eye. Like he was opening his eyes to what it means to be dead and everything that happened after that was a test to see if he would go to heaven – then the final eye scene was symbolic of him passing the test and being aloud to go to heaven with a bunch of people he would have never known in real life. Because they all died on the plane and then everything else that happened was Jack’s interpretation of a test and each person passed their test already – that is why they were waiting on him in the church. So, he formed some unusual attachments to people from the plane crash that he died in and made up a life on the island with them to avoid his own death.

6. Why did they leave Echo out? And never explain Walt’s super powers.

7. What about the stupid story line about the people with the diamonds – they should have never waisted our time on that one.

8. I was hoping that they would one day explain all of the dharma projects and bases, so we could fit some pieces together. I was really getting into all the clues all over the island and the islands powers and to end with a light from a hole in the ground was not fulfilling.

9. It was very creepy how they introduced Jacobs mother/kidnapper as the protector of the island, but she was a murdering control freak. And then they never explained where she came from – that was a huge let down. Was she there with the giant statue?

10. Why didn’t they ever explain what made Claire so dang crazy? Or what made Whitmore enemies with everyone else? Or why some women could have babies. They could have left all of that nonsense out then.

Ok, the list goes on but I will stop. I am sure that these questions were answered for some people, but I never got it. Let me know if you got any of the things that I didn’t.

TS @TS_Elliott on twitter.

sursteve &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

T.S., I’m with you on your explanation in Number 5. I think that’s it, and the writers are just waiting to tell everyone until their DVD pack comes out in time for Christmas.

amb &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

So who was Jack’s son? He couldn’t have existed in the real world as Jack & Juliet had never met. He existed in the purgallel universe only. And when his parents walked into the church and subsequently the light, he was immediately either orphaned or euthanised by the powers that be. That’s a dick move by the universe right there.

Parker &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

Maybe the kid was Juliet and maybe Jack and Juliet we involved that Jack was like the accepted father but not real father. Locke said to Jack in the end “you do not have a son”.

OllieJ &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

You’re kidding me, right? You’ve got to be joking if you think that regurgitating the same nonsense as the rest of the sheeple is going to make the ending any better. Maybe I don’t “get it” but it seems like terrible and stubborn writing to stick to an ending that was written right after a pilot episode without taking into account any of the growth or development that’s taken place in-between. By the way, Jack was meant to be killed halfway through the FIRST EPISODE, so I highly doubt the writers knew exactly where they were going. I love the show and found the finale emotionally satisfying; however, I expected the mythology of the island, Jacob, and the MIB to be resolved much better. And for a season centered around redemption, I find it incredulous that there was no chance of redemption of the MIB when all the guy wanted was to go home. It was the forces of “good” that lied to him and turned him into what he was. I call fubar on that measure.

Sylvia Delgado &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Thanks for helping me get closure.. I was confused but after reading this I feel so much better:) Thanks a lot and I am passing it on to all my friends…

i like the theory that the women that raised Jacob might have been Kate!

natalie &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

when Desmond is at the concert talking with Daniel’s mother… she knows what is going on… what’s that about !?

Neefafa &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

All I can say is that nobody’s perfect. I think this was a great attempt to bring the topics of free will and destiny to the table…which was my primary interest in this show to begin with. I think they tried adding too many things, which they shouldn’t have…b/c then they didn’t have time to resolve it…it could’ve been plotted out more clearly, but with a tough subject like that, it was a great first attempt! Maybe shows to follow dealing with the same issues will learn from LOST’s mistakes…and then all the disappointed haters can get out of purgatory and move on?

birdy27 &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

although i didn’t watch every episode, i did watch all of the last season because i was interested in how they would end the series. i pretty much knew i would be disappointed at the end. yes, the ending was emotional and moving. however, if the mystical/spiritual was the endgame, i had problems with a lot of what came before, especially the part of the story where some of the original survivors went home. i was happy when the sideways reality was established, but had a feeling a lot of what happened when they went home was “filler.” now i’m sure that a lot was “filler” and i think that was very unfair to the audience. as a writer, you have a job to do and, with a show like this, it’s not just to keep people watching. there should be direction, there should be a plan, there should be resolution. it seems to me now that the writers made up rules and discarded them at will. and worst of all, didn’t the writers say many times in interviews that the island was NOT purgatory? then how in the world do you–in good conscience–later create a sideways alternative reality that is supposedly purgatory?? this makes me very angry! deny that the island is purgatory to throw people off the track and then turn around and create purgatory! this is maddening. and to think i almost believed them. when sideways alternate reality was established, i believed this something real, something that would make sense. but just before finale i started to realize the writers may not have told the truth. IMO this was very wrong.

also, they gave us a great episode re: richard’s back story only to have richard end up with a gray hair? yes, it meant that richard had become mortal, but really, is that all for such an important character?

so much wasn’t balanced. well, i have so many other feelings. but i know the writers didn’t take care of business the way they should have. too much was left unanswered. too much was made of things that ultimately mattered little and vice versa. don’t write it if you can’t end it. you have a responsibility to the audience. don’t cop-out. don’t get rich off of ‘filler.”

HighStrungLoner &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I think Ben didn’t go into the church because he didn’t go to heaven, he went to hell.

PS. I believe in neither heaven nor hell.

alek &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

this is the best way anyone could have described it. i agree with this writer 100%

lph88 &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

How did michael not earn his redemption for killing 2 people by saving every1 on the freighter, while ben earned his after killing off an entire population (Dharma)??? even better how did he earn it? or was it ok to kill extras on the show and still move on to the sideways timeline???

JohnnyW &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Superb explanation for the show! Very useful and insightful. Everyone should read this. I do feel compelled to point out some things. Firstly, you do not work for Bad Robot. You were never in the writer’s room. You’ve never even net one of the writers. Secondly, I don’t wish to sound cruel, but you’ve got a long way to go before your writing is of professional standards. So I smell another lie. Thirdly, there were plenty of non-season one characters in the church. The idea that they spent time writing the final scene during the first season… well you’d have to be expect your audience to be beyond gullible. This isn’t Happy Potter, it’s a major TV show that could’ve been cancelled at any time. The idea that they’d attempt to hold themselves to something like that, even if they had written it, is ridiculous. Lastly, there’s a wealth of online interviews that reveal they only started to piece together a mythology after it looked like the show was going to stay on air. The only reason I point out there things is because you attempted to deceive everyone who tool the time to read your words. Which was totally unnecessary as your grasp of the major events of Lost was already very compelling. Well done!

Beth &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I agree with Marty, Steve, and Brian. Way too many loose ends. The finale should have flowed with the storyline and answered more questions in the 2 and 1/2 hours that it had. They focused so much of it on Ben’s sideways life, when he didn’t even go in the church with them, that they didn’t have time to explain other things. It was a disappointment for me. I wasn’t LOST, but I think LOST was.

Jared &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I usually end up feeling like I am behind the pace when it comes to complex shows like Lost. However, this explanation is largely what I saw when I watched the finale the first time. I’m glad to know that I was with the writers all along. I loved the finale and I think it was a perfect ending to a great series, despite the lower points in the series where the episodes felt a little weaker.

burningdervish &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

i thought the wreckage at the end implied that with the light turned back on nothing could leave the island and that the plane jack saw overhead ultimately crashed. really it doesn’t matter to me – i loved the ending and enjoy the ‘losse ends’ as it lets the show live on in debate and discussions – but it seemed obvious to me at the time! ha.

JHank &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

First, I have been a huge fan of the show for the past 6 seasons. Wonderful stimulating television. I have also enjoyed reading the comments posted about the above blog.

I have several thoughts and theories myself. Personally, I am thinking the last half hour (the whole church sequence) was added basically in order to prevent everyone from yelling out “So, what did happen to Jack, Kate Sawyer…………?” Is there a better way to end a show that to pronounce to the world that the main character is dead? Probably, that that can be a whole other debate.

Does anyone know what year or when the funeral took place? Presumably, sometime after Hurley took charge, or else why would he tell Ben he was a great #2.

I didn’t notice, but was Dan Roebuck’s character (the high school teacher) in the church? He gets blown up at the end of season 1, and is seen at the high school again in season 6.

Ideally, the perfect ending would have been ending the show with Jack, in the cave, opening the waterflow again, and saving the island.

Second, this is a magical island, where the dead don’t seem to truly die. How else do we explain Locke and Sayid rising from the dead (Locke bleeding again was a very nice touch but what was bleeding: the corpse from the coffin? Wouldn’t that have been embalmed before transport?) and Locke and Rose being cured.

For all we know, if they ever did a follow up show, Jack could be opening his eyes and seeing Bernard above him (Rose and Bernard were keeping Walt’s dog). Other presumed dead have risen before.

I also question some of the twists in the last season with everyone’s lives. Juliet was in Portland before going to the island, so how did she meet Jack, presumably some 14 or 15 years earlier to bear his child? Hurley is the “luckiest man alive”? Marshall James Ford and his sidekick? Dr. Linus? Did someone borrow the Space Time continuium concept from Back in the Future and go back and change critical parts of the past from everyone lives?

By the way, was my math right and the last episode was 108 minutes minus the commercials?

Marty Stark &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Steve and Brian got it right. This faith stuff is just killing me. The writers botched it and then attempt to rectify mistakes that were insurmountable. Never mind when the island sunk. At one point the two island were not reachable until Sayid suddenly appeared on it. I think they just sat on their laurels and watched the money come in…until it was to late….In essence the writers were LOST.

JC &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Hi, can i just ask

Why were Sawyer, Kate and Claire in the church at the end? They hadnt died, they we on the plane that flew over Jack at the end with Miles etc!

Cheers

James &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

“Hi, can i just ask

Why were Sawyer, Kate and Claire in the church at the end? They hadnt died, they we on the plane that flew over Jack at the end with Miles etc!

Cheers”

Claire, Sawyer and the other people who escaped on the plane at the end lived happily ever after, and then died when they were old, then met everyone from the island in the church at the end so they could move on together.

Remember outside the church Ben and Hurley exhange the lines “you were a great number 1″, and “you were a great number 2″?

– that’s because they lived on the island protecting it together for years and years.

Scotty &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

How did Jacob bring Dharma to the Island? For that matter, how did he “bring” the Losties to the island? The only reason they were there was because Desmond failed to push the button. The explanation offered here is nice and helpful, but doesn’t erase my overall frustration with the ending being a humongous, lazy cop-out for a show teeming with unanswered questions.

Al &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Not a bad analysis, but I agree that there is no way this was written by one of the writers. I really think a writer would be able to spell the names of the characters correctly.

I can explain it better – a bunch of TV writers thought up of an idea about people on an island and knew if they included enough twists and turns and crazy stuff that people would go crazy over it if the show did well enough, allowing them to string out the show and create enough drama to continue the paychecks (and DVD royalties) to make them a lot of money.

Then they had to come up with an ending. So they did.

The end.

Marty Stark &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

One final remark…you can interpret the ending anyway you want. My feeling is that if it’s difficult to understand, then the writers have lost the public somewhere along the line. The fact is there are loads of contradictions. The fact is that LOST LOST its popularity. The fact is that I began to fast forward parts after awhile. The last year should have meshed withe last 2.5 hours in a way that there would be no real need for clarification.

Steve &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Marty…That’s exactly what I put on the LOST Facebook debate just this morning. I couln’t agree more!! And this guy is NO writer for the show, I agree with that. He just did this to give him some gravitas. Here’s a good book title: “How LOST got LOST” Someone will write a book (I don’t have time, seriously…I own 4 radio stations)… but they’ll write a book about all the inconsistencies and plot drop-offs. What someone should do is put up a blog…or web site…gather as much info and ideas as possible…then go to town…get a publisher, and go for it. It’s like taking candy from a baby. BTW… did you notice that Charlie awakened Desmond in the sideways, but later he had to be re-awakened when Claire was having Aaron during the rock concert??? Wasn’t that bizzare. They just had no respect for a cohesive story line, especially in the rushed second half of the season. Rushed, because they didn’t do their job all along.

Amy &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

You made a GREAT point, Steve! What’s up with that???

Crystal &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

What the heck happened to Walt?!?!??!

Kimberly Kenobi &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Apparently the actor that played Walt originally had aged too much so they left him out… I guess there aren’t any other actors who could have picked up the part. That’s my biggest criticism of the show, how could they build his character up so much (the bird thing from S1 was awesome & his reappearance in S3 with Locke & again in S5) then dump him? And what about Aaron, wasn’t he supposed to be the spawn of the devil or something? A psychic told Claire that she couldn’t let him be raised by anyone else. What happened there? I always hoped Walt & Aaron would be the new Jacon & MIB.

Ice &dash;
May 30, 2010 &dash;

They found a replacement character for Boone for S6 why not for Walt? The ‘new’ Boone plays ‘Damon’ from Vampire Diaries; that’s how I knew it was a different actor….

When I first started watching Lost I was captivated by the sci fi aspect of it, and just like many other people I wanted ALL the answers even when season 6 started, then I suspected I wouldn’t get all answers I wanted. I realized the writers had taken a completely different direction to what I had expected, at first I resisted and had my moments of questioning and criticizing. But the final episode and revelations made me realize that I loved the show because of the characters, their personal stories and inner turmoils, so in the end I kind of “let go” and forgot about all the unanswered questions. Maybe the fact that spirituality is a big part of my life, even though I can be a very logical thinker, helped me appreciate what the core of the story was. Faith (not religion) is all about letting go of fears and attachments and I’m glad there’s a show that took the risk of dealing with this subject in a very unconventional way. If life and the universe were rationally explained to us, it would lose all its magic and we would always have more questions anyway. Great show as a whole.

Bradley &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

the plane flying overhead and the end of the show was lapidus and the other castaways leaving not the oceanic crash

Parker &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

Wonder if Lapidus’s plane crashed as well and ergo they all died there. Making it more reasonable that they were all dead.

Chris &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

This was allegedly posted by someone who wrote for Lost? Uh, hopefully none of you actually believe that. Don’t you think one of the writers of a hit television show would have spell check on their computer?

Geoff &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Exactly!!

Wanda &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I thought Jack survived light/magnetism resuming as the dog licked him and possibly he lived with Rose and her hubby till the end after that… it’s sad though that he and Kate won’t unite till they are both dead… is Kate returning to Aaron with Claire to start their “real life”?!

religiously speaking, I think the island represents the struggle of faith of our walk with God. it doesn’t matter what happens in our worldly life after we die; what matters is our walk with God when we are alive…

all in all, Lost is a great concept! it’s as if we’re watching our own struggles in different forms in all characters’ lives… it all ends in peace when we see the truth at the end.

God bless!

SHEILA RIMES &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Thank you so much! After reading this I became certain that I really understood the end! Everything that is written here is what I figured out! Really good show!

Dustin Britt &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

The only thing this doesn’t reconcile well is how it is that Libby, Rose & Bernard all ended up in the church – if indeed the writers wrote the finale scene at the beginning and “stayed true” to it. Those three characters were not a part of the original cast. So why them, and say, not Walt?

Kimberly Kenobi &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Rose was there from the beginning, she wa sin the pilot episode, Jack & Boone gave her CPR & saved her life.

Parker &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

Rose and Bernard were in the Oceanic plane crash and were in the 1st season

I absolutely loved the finale. Why all the “people of science” out there thinks that makes the “people of faith” stupid for being happy with the ending is beyond me. In fact, the people of faith are probably smarter because was are adaptable. We were able to appreciate the whole series and then easily adapt to the point of the show being one of faith. For me, it tied everything together, including the meaning of life.

There are not answers to everything, including why Aaron was there as a baby. Who cares? There are not answers to a lot of things in life. For those of us who believe in an afterlife, we have our ideas of what that means, but we don’t know for certain. It has always been my understanding that when we cross over we can choose the way we appear. If we died at 90, we can be 30 in the afterlife. The characters all chose to look the way they did when they were together on the island and that includes Aaron. When he was on the island, he was a baby.

It’s impossible to explain the meaning of all the things that took place in the sideways world or the church because NO ONE knows for sure what it actually is. This was simply their take.

I find it a little sad that there are so many people who are upset that the sci-fi questions were left unanswered and are not comforted to see that they will reunite with their loved ones when they die. Maybe you don’t believe in an afterlife. Who knows. But, I would much rather know that I will see my husband again, that we will be together with all the people who were important in our lives, when the time comes. I have no idea what really lies ahead, but I sure hope it is just the way LOST portrayed it. I’d much rather that than to die and simply cease to exist. I don’t know why anyone would rather believe that it’s over when it’s over.

Steve &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

@Michelle… People with emotion ‘smarter’ than people who need to know the answers and people of science? If that were the case there would be no inventions…no Edison, Einstein, Plato, Ford, Wright Brothers, etc. Just because you feel you can dismiss all the details and enjoy an emotional, way-out New Age ending, doesn’t mean you’re smarter. That’s called submission. If Edison would have submitted, there would be no computer screen illuminated to read this on, or even watch the last 6 seasons of LOST. With all due respect. We’re all different. That’s fine that you can enjoy the ending. Half of us LOST fans out there just see it as it is… They couldn’t put it all together, so they took a left turn and did just what they did. They got the ratings they wanted throughout the years by shocking and making us curious, then let us down.

Adam E &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Wow. Somehow this fictional show comforts you and strengthens your belief in an afterlife? That is pretty messed up.

I believe in an afterlife as well, but this ending sucked. I wasn’t interested in the writers’ view on the afterlife, I just I wanted to know some answers to the all of the crazy stuff the writers threw in over the last 6 years. Or even the crazy stuff thrown in just this year! They did a *horrible* job at wrapping up the story. They primarily answered only one question… what is the sideways world? They pretty much abandoned the first 5 seasons, and answered (very poorly answered) only a few of the questions anyone had.

Also, this article is not from a writer of the show. It is one person’s ideas about the show, and doesn’t *answer* anything.

Adam R &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

I think Michelle makes some good points put I would steer clear of the entire science versus faith justification. Many scientists have faith. I liked the ending of this series. Did everything get answered? Absolutely not, but I felt the major questions did. Frankly by the end of the series I had almost completely forgotten the numbers until they showed up again in the cave and by that point they were more of a side note to me (As they were for most the cast, I think Season 2 was the last time any of the cast seemed to notice/care about the numbers). Though this may be due to the fact that I always viewed the series as more a philosophical sandbox. The mysteries of the island simply allowed those philosophical questions to play out. I think Michelle also brings up a good point that in life not everything is answered. Yes we do make scientific progress when we pursue an answer, but this is a TV show and the only thing you can expect to get by dwelling on questions the writers chose not to answer is frustrated.

Sophie &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Thank you! That was such an interesting read and has helped me understand the finale much better.

Ok. The details of this article are wrong and so is some of the logic, now that I think about it. Also, a writer wouldn’t have all these mispellings. Nice try, whoever you are.

Great show. Weak finale. We were all cheated.

Those who are led by emotion, you may continue to sit in your corners smiling away.

Those of us who need a validation for all the crazy theories & plots, let’s keep throwing rocks at the producers until someone “OFFICIAL” talks.

:D

Caroline &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I think you need to relax and remember it was tv programme. ITS NOT REAL LIFE. It was for entertainment and if you have an imagination then use it for any questions that havent been answered already. It was a great finale, but unfortunately with such a big build up ie. 6years.. its never gonna be as massive as some people would like it to be. cos its been built up too much.

Everything happening on the island may have been far fetched but thats why we kept tuning in every season.

Lynsey &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I, like most, would’ve liked more answers but ultimately was happy with the ending. The numbers-anyone?! My biggest headache is caused by the end of season 5 with the nuke exploding. We see the island completely underwater and Juliet goes on to say “it worked” and so begins the sideways world which I thought was an alternate reality because it had worked and the bomb had destroyed the island in the 70s. Now after watching the finale and finding out sideways world is ‘purgatory’ I’m beyond confused! Did they all die in the explosion? Did the island sink? What actually ‘worked’? What did Juliet mean?! *Brain explodes* Any views or better yet answers are welcome.

nikita &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I have to start by saying that I loved the ending, every bit of it and I don’t agree with the idea that i’m not critiquing the show logically. We’re dealing with a show that’s fundamentally about science vs faith and the reason why it became so famous is that every season finale gave people the opportunity to answer the questions, based on their own personal beliefs. If the writers had sat down and given us a detailed a=b and c=d finale, the basic appeal of the show is just “lost”. I hated the episodes about the temple as much as the next person, but the show started with these total strangers who we discovered were connected to each other and ended with them knowing how they were connected to each other….i can see why so many people would hate that, but you have to give the writers some points for being so poetic about it.

The numbers were around much before the Dharma initiative, which we know from the names in Jacob’s cave. My guess is, Jacob wrote a whole bunch of names with their respective numbers on the cave walls and the island, in all its mysterious glory, gave special importance to 4 8 15 16 23 and 42 coz those just happened to be the numbers of our beloved Losties.

And as far as why Aaron was still a baby in the Church is concerned, my only guess is that we have to try and understand what exactly Christian meant by “there is no now”. This limbo that the losties were in isn’t in any real time that we can identify or even comprehend. It’s completely a mystical/religious concept and even though I don’t have an exact answer to it, I only know that Aaron as a BABY was connected to these people and not Aaron as a grown up.

Loved the show, loved the finale, loved being lost (couldn’t resist the pun :D)

nikita &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

oh and the island being underwater, i guess is sort of a subconscious action on jack’s part. When he’s in the limbo (i refuse to use the word purgatory) he basically needs to move on and find his life’s resolve. Same goes for the others in the Church, the only way any of them can find peace is if that island is sunk in the bottom of whichever ocean. No more numbers or protecters or leaders or smoke monsters….

sursteve &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Lyndsey, I’ve been struggling with Juliet’s comment “it worked”, as well. The only thing I can think of is “it worked” for HER. that was her redemption. Blowing herself up for the good of her friends freed her from purgatory. The start of the sideways string probably had nothing to do with the bomb – the writers just wanted us to think so.

Zoe &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I believe that in the season premiere when Juliet said “it worked” she was referring to the vending machine “trick” that she showed Sawyer… we just were made to believe that she was referring to “Jughead”… she was probably bouncing in and out of her “limbo/purgatory/sideways world” at the time and repeated those words we heard her share with Sawyer at the hospital vending machine.

Jon &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I think a real writer for the show would know how to spell ‘Rousseau’ and ‘Lapidus’ (not to mention words like ‘blatant’).

Amy &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

And wouldn’t write “Flocke” instead of “Locke”? I thought the same thing! I don’t think this person had ANYTHING to do with the show.

missskye &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

So… a supposed writer of the show can’t spell the names of the characters correctly? Come on! It was Ana Lucia, Lapidus, Rousseau, and Goodwin NOT Goodspeed.

Writer? Pft. PA maybe. Poser!

huge one &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

lol, this article wasn’t written by a writer from lost, it looks like it was written by someone still in highschool….

Dan &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

In true Lost fandom fashion, no one truely has the answers. I loved the sideways story line. The island story line for most of S6 was trite and thrown together. The writers showed their mettle in the sideways story line with sharp, intelligent dialoge and a revival of the reasons I loved s1. You can’t please everyone, if the writers had tried it would have been a complete failure. When you die, there are no neatly wrapped up answers for every loose end in your life, some mysteries never get solved. Thanks to Bad Robot for 6 years of entertainment. Let’s remember how baron a wasteland tv had become before Lost. Now, if someone would put together a cronological edit of the story line that would be a true mindf**k.

excellent,stu…pretty much what i thought but you’ve made it clearer for me and for that i thank you.

Chris &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Great article, but right at the start you said that a plane crash was out in to F*** with our heads. But I’m sure that was the Ajira plane with Sawyer, Kate, Richard etc. on it, taking off and flying above.

Jim &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

This whole post, while lucid and interesting is complete and total BS.

This whole explanation is littered with errors that an actual writer from the show would never make.

1) The Dharma Initiative never “turned bad”….they got massacred. They built some hatches, conducted some experiments, annoyed the natives and got purged. They didn’t do anything that actually related to the battle between Jacob/MIB. The “Dharma Initiative” is basically just a huge red herring thrown into the show to allow the writers to explain why there are polar bears and buttons being pushed on this island. 2) While MIB did reach out and try to corrupt Ben as a child (by appearing as his mother) and he ultimately convinced him to kill Jacob, at no point was Ben tricked into doing the wortk of the MIB under the guise of it being the work of Jacob. Ben explained to Locke that he had never spoken or seen Jacob. Every order issued to the Others is delivered by Richard Alpert. Richard is the only person allowed to address Jacob. (BTW, this hierarchy of Ben being “the leader” while Richard was “the speaker” was bizarre and another thing the show never explained) The main argument MIB used to convince Ben to stab Jacob was that “he had never even seen him”. The first time Ben started being used as MIB’s pawn came much later, when he summoned him and spoke to him in the form of Danielle ordering him to help Locke. 3) The Others were never doing MIB’s bidding and never “actively tried to kill Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley”. I’m not sure if you remember, but the Others captured Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley numerous times yet they never went ahead and killed them. The Others were always following the orders of Jacob as issued to them through Richard Alpert. This notion that MIB was secretly leading the Others by masquerading as Jacob is simply not correct. When Ben told Michael “We’re the good guys”, he was actually being truthful. 4) An actual writer would realize that Jacob brought people to the Island to help prove that MIB was wrong and that they weren’t “corruptable”, and possessed free will and were inherently “good”. Whoever wrote this seems to think he brought all of these people to the island for the sole purpose of helping him with his “diabolical scheme of killing the Man In Black”. While it’s true that Jacob needed his candidates to help him eliminate the Man In Black, that is not there main purpose in being brought to the island.

Mr. Cluck &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

This whole post, while lucid and interesting is complete and total BS.

This whole explanation is littered with errors that an actual writer from the show would never make.

1) The Dharma Initiative never “turned bad”….they got massacred. They built some hatches, conducted some experiments, annoyed the natives and got purged. They didn’t do anything that actually related to the battle between Jacob/MIB. The “Dharma Initiative” is basically just a huge red herring thrown into the show to allow the writers to explain why there are polar bears and buttons being pushed on this island. 2) While MIB did reach out and try to corrupt Ben as a child (by appearing as his mother) and he ultimately convinced him to kill Jacob, at no point was Ben tricked into doing the wortk of the MIB under the guise of it being the work of Jacob. Ben explained to Locke that he had never spoken or seen Jacob. Every order issued to the Others is delivered by Richard Alpert. Richard is the only person allowed to address Jacob. (BTW, this hierarchy of Ben being “the leader” while Richard was “the speaker” was bizarre and another thing the show never explained) The main argument MIB used to convince Ben to stab Jacob was that “he had never even seen him”. The first time Ben started being used as MIB’s pawn came much later, when he summoned him and spoke to him in the form of Danielle ordering him to help Locke. 3) The Others were never doing MIB’s bidding and never “actively tried to kill Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley”. I’m not sure if you remember, but the Others captured Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley numerous times yet they never went ahead and killed them. The Others were always following the orders of Jacob as issued to them through Richard Alpert. This notion that MIB was secretly leading the Others by masquerading as Jacob is simply not correct. When Ben told Michael “We’re the good guys”, he was actually being truthful. 4) An actual writer would realize that Jacob brought people to the Island to help prove that MIB was wrong and that they weren’t “corruptable”, and possessed free will and were inherently “good”. Whoever wrote this seems to think he brought all of these people to the island for the sole purpose of helping him with his “diabolical scheme of killing the Man In Black”. While it’s true that Jacob needed his candidates to help him eliminate the Man In Black, that is not there main purpose in being brought to the island.

sharlene &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

why did you bother watching it for 6 years? are you really a fan? i have read dozens of thoughts including the main article, and they make sense….yours is BS.

Heffaloo &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I never watched the show, but this article does present some interesting concepts. Unfortunately, I was too distracted by the author’s need for classes on spelling, grammar and punctuation to really enjoy reading it.

Niles &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

A lot of things don’t make sense with this ending. Faraday and Charlotte were at the church. So were Penny and Desmond. Penny never even set foot on the island. I can understand why Juliet was there, but she wasn’t one of the plane crash survivors. And where the hell was Walt? Couldn’t they decide some way to end his story? The only thing I don’t get more than the the LOst finale is this bloody article.

Stephanie &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

No matter the explanation (which I enjoyed reading) I still think the ending sucked.

In addition since the show was such a huge success did it REALLY have to end? How many seasons was Dallas on? and that godawful Simpsons? I mean seriously our Lostaways definitely have more appeal than a stupid cartoon with no mental stimulation whatsoever.

Geoff &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Hey now, no reason to knock The Simpsons! It’s a great show (though, admittedly, not as fresh as it was 20 years ago), and still on the air! :-)

Steve &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Those who loved the ending are mostly governed by Emotion…they emote…so all the abandoned details and brick walls don’t bother them. What’s important to them are the characters and if they were ‘happy’ in the end. Those who are more analytical are unhappy. Why? Because while they loved the characters too, they were captivated by

the mysterious sci-fi aspect of the show, which kept them watching for 6 years, frankly. Throw a Polar Bear in, and people will talk…gee what’s that smoke monster?….why is there an old ship in the jungle?…(those were answered) why are the numbers powerful? (never answered)…why does Eloise always know what’s going on? (never answered)… Walt’s powers? (never answered)… How did all the dead who didn’t know they were dead all memo each other to know to meet in the church? Hmmmm? How was that hokey scenario pulled off? We’re just supposed to buy it. On and on and on. Someone please write a book about all the things that just didn’t make sense in the cop-out ending…the rushed second half of the season to at least answer what the writers knew would be the biggest questions. They wasted half the season at the temple for a a story line that was a total waste of time. Why did the sideways full of clueless dead people have car crashes, drug busts, murders, and gun fights? Were ALL the people in that sideways world dead? When people were shot, they bled. They were on cell phones, etc. WTF… Human entertainment writers, goverened by ratings and making a story of a bunch of people on an island interesting and diverse, wrote themselves into a captivating frenzy of unanswerable questions…so the people who ARE unhappy about the ending absolutely SEE THROUGH the ‘Sixth Sense” catch-all ending which, again, is ALL about faith…NOT science. Emotion…NOT detail. It sucks….and I’m sorry…but “they all created a ‘sideways world’…that’s just new age gone absolutely fruit. Sorry.

I feel the reason why Libby,Juliet, Desmond and Penny were there and not some of the others who showed up in later seasons was because Sawyer and Hurley probably let Libby and Juliet in on the rendevous because they loved them and wanted to insure that they would see them again. Desmond was close to both Charlie and Claire and was probably told about the meeting by them.Aaron as a baby perplexed me as well ,but I’m thinking he appeared as the baby that most of the survivors[Charlie, Sun, Jin,Boone, Shannon, etc] remembered him as.

Mike in Seattle &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

First, great post, thanks to the “writer” that put it out there (or maybe it was JJ, Damon, or Carleton themselves) ;-)

Something tells me the Bad Robot folks saw the reception of the LOST finale going sideways (ha, pardon the pun) and figured someone had to clue in the masses of disaffected viewers to what was really meant by the finale. After all, they need to protect their DVD sales come Holiday 2010. BTW, thanks for telling us the credit-roll shots of the plane wreckage was just a mindf**k.

Like a previous commenter, I was seriously disppointed and left with a sense of stalled closure for more than a day — this post finally put me at peace and now I can “move on.”

Sursteve &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

To believe the island experience was supposed to be real and the sideways life was the purgatory requires one to believe that they were able to survive the plane crash, time travel is possible, and there’s such a thing as a smoke monster. More plausible is the explanation that Jack landed in the bamboo when the plane crashed (first scene of first show – his eye opening) and everything between then and the very last scene of the last show (when he was STILL in the bamboo and his eyes closed/he died) was a story in his mind and/or his spirit experiencing purgatory and finding his way from being a non-believer to a believer, thus allowing him to pass on from Earth to Heaven. More evidence is the fact that the dog walking up to him was essentially just the completion of that very first scene in the first show. It only takes a few seconds for the dog to actually get to him. I don’t know if the author of this article is a bona fide member of the Lost writing team, but even if he is I suspect his interpretation is just that, and if you ask any other member of the team, you’ll probably get another answer – just like us dopes who watched and are still thinking about it 2 days later…

3Sheets &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I would have been satisfied with this result as well. =]

Epona &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Thank you so much for clarifying this for those of us who were disappointed…although I am still rather disappointed that faith won over science. Still a fabulous 6 year ride…maybe they will make a movei. Would love to see what Hugo and Ben did with their time on the Island!

Ice &dash;
May 30, 2010 &dash;

One thing that has not been mentioned yet is the fact that at the very end, Jack appears ‘alive’ in the same spot of which MIB came through the light to the ‘other side’ alive. Does that mean that Jack is now the ‘black smoke monster’?

Kelly &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

@Leslie – All the rest of the characters were the same as the day they set foot on the plane. If the writers had aged Aaron, then they would have had to age rest of them as well. I think because of their link to each other, they appeared as they originally had, hence the reason none of the Lostaways that made it off the island are old (if they indeed lived to an old age). That’s the way I figured it, at least. :)

I for one am very happy with the ending. The storyline of the island was wrapped up as far as our Lostaways were concerned. They explained their reason for being there and in the end, what Jacob had set out to do was done. The island has many many other mysteries but to explain every little thing that happened would have taken the enjoyment out of watching the show. It may drive you crazy not to know, but it’s what makes you love it even more.

Caroline &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I totaly agree with you, i loved the ending.It was extremely emotional and beautifully done and these people calling themselves “super fans” that are disappointed in the ending i would like to ask WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU WANT FROM THIS??? Its a television show and your never going to please everyone, but i think the reason Lost was a big hit was because people had question and more questions after every season and we still have some but now we are left to all come up with our own INTERPRETATIONS and that is enjoyable. we dont want it all laid on a plate. The important stuff is answered, the couples are back together and the Christian Shepherd, has rounded up his flock and taken them to heaven (IN MY OPINION) Eloise….. well her name is Eloise Hawking, and i think she represents our modern day Stephen Hawking (a theoretical Physicist / Scientist)

Barret &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Sorry for double post. Typing on my mobile and tried to correct spelling before the comment posted but was too late.

3Sheets &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I thought your “Seuss ex machina” comment was a clever commentary. Sorry to hear it was just a typo.

Barret &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

So the person that wrote this was a writer for JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot and he couldn’t accurately say which seasons characters came in? I’m not even one of the rabid fans but this quote (“…and the reason no one is in the church but for Season 1 people is because they wrote the ending to the show after writing the pilot. And never changed it.”) basically discredits the whole article.

I’m not a fan of deus ex machina plot devices either and the characters were pretty much given their island memories with no struggle to get those memories. For such a smart show, this ending blew.

Ice &dash;
May 30, 2010 &dash;

I agree with you about who wrote the article. I remember reading an article after the first season of LOST was released. In that article the writers admitted that they had no idea what the story line was going to be or where the show would go beyond the Pilot episode. The article also had comments from the cast who stated they ‘never knew what their character would do next’. I had not watched a single episode of LOST until I read that article then I borrowed Season 1 from my friend and became hooked til the very end.

Barret &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

So the person that wrote this was a writer for JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot and he couldn’t accurately say which seasons characters came in? I’m not even one of the rabid fans but this quote (“…and the reason no one is in the church but for Season 1 people is because they wrote the ending to the show after writing the pilot. And never changed it.”) basically discredits the whole article.

I’m not a fan of Seuss ex machina plot devices either and the characters were pretty much given their island memories with no struggle to get those memories. For such a smart show, this ending blew.

Steve &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Barret…you are 100% right. See my post on this page… You can’t have it both ways as a writer. One…120 hours of detail, interesting plot lines and connections…drawing people in. And then Two… Totally going conveniently new age at the end. It’s just an excuse to not do the hard writer’s part and really respect the more intelligent viewers who really want to know and hold the story accountable.. There were so many questions and problems. It reminds me of David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” where people were drawn in to the weird but excitingly twisted story, only to find out in the end, Lynch admitted himself that he was just on a ride, and had no idea how to resolve any of it. That’s what I honestly see with LOST now…and I was one of its biggest fans. You’re right. …the ending blew guys. You LOST half of your fans. They’re dissapointed in you, and laughing at you at the same time.

Kim &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I like your take on everything, but i would like to counter the fact that you said only season 1 people were in the church. Libby, Desmond, and Penny were definitely not season 1 folks. Other than that I think your interpretation hit some pretty good points.

Amy &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Didn’t Desmond and Jack run into each other in a flashback of Jack’s in season 1?

Parker &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

Yes Jack ran into Desmond early on. He said to him “See you in another life brother. Jack said it back to him in the finale.

Heather &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Very nice. I felt like I was skimming around the edges of this explanation myself but I couldn’t nail it down. I like your take and have totally jumped on board.

Marty Stark &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I agree with your analysis to a point. With the advent of the sideworld, I thought it was a good way of concluding the series. Of course, it quickly became evident that the world was really one their own manifestations. That is, where they could be what they really were not. For example, Sawyer was a detective, or Hugo was happy etc. By the final two hours, you knew they were all going to die. What bothered me is that Jack died at a very young age anyway you look at it. The second thing that bothered me was the element of time. There was none. Everybody just had to wait in limbo until they passed on to be reawakened together. In the sideworld, Jack had a good life, had it been me, I’d of stayed right where I was without moving on. Why was the baby there?

I guess faith is not enough for me. I believe in living life now. My wife died of cancer at a very young age. Sometimes, I like to think she’s watching over my kids and I. But the reality of it is that I don’t believe it. One final thought is that I did enjoy the fact that each person re-met their “soulmates.” It really brought tears to my eyes when Juliet met Sawyer. That part will stick with me for awhile.

Gretchen &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Didn’t Michael redeem himself on the freighter?!? Otherwise I like a lot of parts of this explaination.

Name &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

The fact that the explanation has some holes leads me to believe this was written by a fan and not one of the writer’s on the show.

“The show was always about science vs faith — and it ultimately came down on the side of faith” — please, pure interpretation.

Connor &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I’m totally on-board with this explanation and I think the Lost writers did an excellent job of wrapping up the (arguably) primary theme of faith v. science.

That said– I didn’t watch the show for a single theme, I enjoyed the roller-coaster ride of crazy happenings and subtle explanations. With just the main theme answered, it’s as though the writers invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner and when I got there they were only serving turkey. None of the side-dishes got resolved, they were just omitted. The main course isn’t the same without a medley of other flavors.

Answers can come in different ways–a polar bear in the jungle got me hooked and months later we were introduced to the Dharma initiative and their “bear cages.” For me, that was a reasonable explanation– Dharma was testing on polar bears. Not 100% concrete but it is an answer.

It’s the episode-ending cliffhangers and major plot questions which got *no* answer that bother me. Why couldn’t women give birth on the island? Why could Claire? Why did that statue have three toes? (who built it is arguably 10% answered in that there have been many waves of people arriving over time– fine.) Why did the numbers– a sequence developed by a Dharma scientist– show up in Hurley’s life and all over the island?

All it would have taken is a few small lines of dialogue to give polar bear-esque explanations for these things. Say the EM radiation was messing with gestation. Say Jacob pitied and saved Aaron. Have Jacob mention that his predecessor was injured and lacked a toe– the monument was to him. WHAT ARE THE NUMBERS??? I hate that this had no explanation. It’s a scar on an otherwise Tour De Force in writing.

Great job on that turkey though.

Renee &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

The numbers were explained as the Valenzetti equation – in which an Italian physicist/mathematician, hired by Hanso/Widmore, to calculate the date of the end of the world came up with the Valenzetti equation, which each number represented a different variable that would determine “doomsday”. Hence it’s relationship to entering the numbers and pushing the button to ‘save the world’ and why Hurley was cursed by the numbers. They are a mystical set of numbers, and also add up to 108 just like in Buddhist prayer (the creators and writers have admitted this reference).

Zoe &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Just a thought on the birthing question… a friend and I think that women weren’t able to give birth after becoming pregnant on the island because of what Jacob/MIB’s “island” mother did to Claudia, their birth mom. Perhaps the women who became pregnant on the island were taking the “punishment” from “Mother’s” sin of killing Claudia. Therefore, only mothers (like Danielle and Claire) who came TO the island pregnant were able to survive, making up for the fact that Claudia who came to the island pregnant was never given the opportunity to live to raise her children.

Karen &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I don’t remember Juliet being a character in Season 1 and she was in the church…

Msm &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I’m disappointed that I watched every episode from the beginning to the end and that was how they wrapped it up. It was a uncreative, nonsense, lame-ass ending.

Jason &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Your disappointed must come from incomprehension.

Steve &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

No Jason…It comes from way too many inconsistencies in a 6 year TV show that kept people’s attention by throwing everything they could imagine in there, but couldn’t put it all together. I suggest you do some checking. Here are a couple of suggestions:http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291

Also, if the writers were so damn good, then WHY are about 50% of LOST fans either confused or they’ve caught on to the inconsistencies? Here’s just one. Why is Aaron in the church with Claire, BUT Jin and Sun’s little girl is NOT.??? Why did Charlie awaken Desmond in the sideways car in the water, YET he was still clueless and had to be re-awakened again with Kate and Claire during the rock concert upon the delivery of Aaron?? Hell, that was in the same freakin’ season!! You people who are saying that the LOST fans who are somehow less intelligent than YOU who “GET” it, are really off base. Sorry…but true. Do some thinking and checking..

Jason &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

Jin and Sun’s daughter wasn’t in the church cause it was never on the island. Charlie had seen Claire when he was dying on the place before jack revived him and new that something was going on, he hadn’t yet found his “soul mate” only seen her in a vision. He knew that he had to come close to death to see it and so he decided to show Desmond.

As far as I can tell there are only one thing (that Ive thought of) that I dont understand and that is what the hell is the box Lockes dad came from. But you cant let that or any other things ruin 6 years of the best television we will ever have.

CJ &dash;
June 1, 2010 &dash;

I think Anthony Cooper (Locke’s father) was kidnapped and brought to the island by the Others. We found out later that the Others were going back and forth between the island and the real world pretty regularly. Either that or the whole storyline surrounding the magic box was dropped and that was never really explained.

CJ &dash;
June 1, 2010 &dash;

Whoops… that last post was a response to a different thread (one where someone asked what the “magic box” was that the others referred to when they told Locke that in order to be their leader, he had to kill his father to prove to them that he was able to move past his father issues.

CJ &dash;
June 1, 2010 &dash;

Whoops… that last post was a response to a different thread (one where someone asked what the “magic box” was that the others referred to when they told Locke that in order to be their leader, he had to kill his father to prove to them that he was able to move past his father issues.

Lee &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Great Article.

The only point I’d like you to consider is that sideways world was what had to happen because the nuke went off in the 70s. The moment that happened and Juliet said ‘It Worked’, those effected never made it to the island in the FUTURE and therefore sideways world became real. As they all died in sideways world they were then forced into the state where they were able to meet each other. We got to see their death from different stances in sideways world…..but make no mistake. The nuke explosion changed the future and they couldn’t come to the island after that happened.

Ash &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

When Juliet said “it worked” it was her in the alternative timeline talking about the vending machine. It was designed to throw us (as usual)

Mark &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

The nuke was the incident. It only worked in as far as it moved the losties to the correct timeline, but other than that “whatever happened, happened”.

Caroline &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Oh Ash i never got that bit about “it worked” until you just said. and it was the one thing i was still wondering about. Brilliant :-)

Lauren &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

Yeah, but I’ve gone back and watched the series finale again and again, and I could have sworn Juliet said “I worked” when she hands Sawyer the candy bar. If I’m mistaken then let me know. However, “it worked” and “I worked” are two completely different sentences with two completely different meanings.

CJ &dash;
June 1, 2010 &dash;

You’re correct. Juliet said it both times. And yes there were 2 different meanings. It was meant to throw viewers off the trail by making them believe she was referring to the bomb.

Ann &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

You stated that the ending was written after the pilot and therefore, only the characters from the first season were present in the church. So how do you explain Juliet’s presence? She wasn’t in the pilot and didn’t appear on the show until after Ben’s character became a regular.

Kim &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Ooooooohhh. This makes so much more sense now. lol, I connect everything until now. Thanks so much for easily spelling it out. :)

Before I read this, I still loved the finale and the series as a whole, because I was watching for the characters and the emotional aspect, which the finale beautifully wrapped together. Now I understand the plot part now and love it even more!

Claire &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Nicely explained and a fantastic concept – religious or not – that you create your ‘sideways worlds’ and wait for your loved ones to move on together. In reference to some of the above comments – obviously this is only my opinion – but Libby, Juliet and Desmond made stronger connections with the other ‘Lostaways’ than the others, and obviously Penny goes along with Desmond. Miles and the others were still there but had their own people to wait for? Ben staying behind feels more justified to me, and redeems him a little more. Like I said though – just my opinion :)

Susofdisbelief &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

A sideways world where you wait for your loved ones before moving on? If that’s the case where is all of there parents, brothers and sisters…. and if Aaron did grow up, as stated above, did he have no loved ones? That seems way too basic of an explanation when others are available that potentially match the depth of story that Lost was trying to come up with.

Josh &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I think in response to why Aaron was still a baby at the end, is that, when you think about it, only TWO people in the church at the end ever really saw Aaron grow up!!! Those being Kate and Jack!!! Aaron as a baby is how they all knew him!!! I think it’s a plausible possibility that based on what the author just wrote, Aaron would have made his own connections with who he was supposed to enter the afterlife with as he grew up!!! Does that make sense to anyone else?

As for Desmond and Penny. While Desmond may have only been originally written for a 3 episode arc, he was, in my opinion, a very integral character in the show!!! Hell, if I remember correctly, he was connected to Jack LONG before anyone else!!! On top of that, anyone who says that he wasn’t the catalyst for everyone “waking up” to the limbo (I much rather prefer Limbo to purgatory, as purgatory has more of a negative-ish sort of connotation to it, whereas limbo is more of a state of waiting) doesn’t realize how important Desmond was to everyone!!! And let’s be honest, Desmond isn’t moving on without Penny!!! Same thing with Libby and Juliette!!! Hurley and Sawyer aren’t moving on without them!!!

I kinda felt, in regards to Ben, that he felt he wasn’t supposed to move on with them!!! I’m glad to see I wasn’t off the mark on it!!!

Anyways, feel free to disagree with my take on some of the questions that were asked!!! I don’t say I’m right, I’m just giving me view/opinion on things!!!

Thank you “Lost” for probably the greatest show I’ve ever had the absolute pleasure of watching!!!

Ryan &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

Jack didn’t really see Aaron grow up. He died when Aaron was three years old. And Claire got off the island to go home and take care of him, so she watched him grow up… and we can probably safely assume that his Uncle Sawyer and Uncle Desmond came to visit occasionally too. But yeah, that’s still only about four people out of everyone in that church.

Pete &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Dude….thanks. I needed that in a big way.

James &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

A fantastic explanation to one of the most beautifully crafted endings to a show I have ever seen. In the end it wasn’t about the island, or time travel or polar bears, it was about people and relationships and love and faith. It said that there can always be a fresh start, even for people with flaws and that, in the end, we’ll all be together with the people we love. What could be better than that?

sier &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

So, are you going to address the (several) people who AREN’T from season one who are in the church at the end, or just ignore that part? It sort of goes against your whole argument about them sticking to JJ’s script, doesn’t it?

Peter &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

I refuse to believe the ending we got is the ending planned all along. I’m sorry, I just don’t buy it.

However, I’m at least being incredibly generous to you in not buying it, because if I did believe that was how he intended to end the series from the beginning, and the writers knew and went along with it, my respect for them all drops tenfold.

John &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

If everyone must know – the ending was presented in a way that would leave most viewers satisfied with a hero-ending. The real way that the story ends is with us discovering that MiB set a trap – always pretending to be Jacob so that people would work for him toward destroying the Island. He created the ALT (it was not an afterlife, so-to-speak, but was definitely timeless) so that he could go there (only after the island was destroyed – it was the only way he could leave) and lure everyone into Hell.

That wasn’t a ‘Christian’. That wasn’t a ‘Shepard’. That was the ‘Darkness’

Khattum Shud!

Here its like this:

*The light is life, death, rebirth: It’s the source. The heart of the Island.

*The light is ‘Beautiful’. As stated by Mother, Brother and also in the earliest episodes by John Locke when he encountered first encountered the Smoke: “I looked into the eye of the island, and what I saw… was beautiful.” … “I saw a very bright light. It was beautiful.”

*It is the reason everyone is on the Island.

*A little bit of this same light is inside every man, but they always want more.

*If humans try to take the light they could potentially put it out.

*If the light goes out in the cave (or rather, at the heart of the Island) it goes out everywhere. (allusion to the spreading of the darkness – analogy of the wine out of the bottle).

*Going into the light is much worse than dying. (allusion to the analogy of the ‘wine’ within the bottle as hell, malevolence, evil).

*The light causes metal to “behave strangely”, i.e. it is electromagnetic in nature.

*There is presumably a system that can channel the water and the light using the wheel constructed by the Brother.

Ok – we can safely say that the light went out.

Keep this in mind. In the Bardo Thodol the chikhai bardo is the bardo of the moment of death – our sideways illusion. Categorically this is then an experienced as a very diaphanous light, none in the West commonly as the ‘light after death’ – this is distinctly as the very early stages of death. In Christianity, this is exactly where the devil can snatch the soul away. In the Bardo Thodol this is the case of when the soul, after the expereince of this the person can experience the realm of the asura (in Christianity, the seduction of the demons). This then, it the nature of the light of the Devil. Aptly named ‘Lucifer’, meaning lucem ferre, literally meaning “light-bearer”.

Now if we consider that Jack and Desmond basically did everything they shouldn’t have – and that the Smoke Monster basically marched them right into the place they shouldn’t have been – wouldn’t our bold writers expect us to make these assumptions – that they FAILED!

This is the sort of danger the inversion of a symbol can be.

Khattum Shud!

Christian Shepard gave a description of the Sideway Reality – a collective illusion – the definition of maya. They went from living in reality to a mythical Island to an unreal place to a light that holds a ‘fate worse than death’.

The writers said if the light goes out there, it goes out everywhere. They said the cork prevents ‘evil, malevolence and hell’ from being released.

We saw the cork removed.

We saw the light go out.

Now repeat the actions Jacob did as an experiment: Tip a wine bottle upside down, take the cork out. Cheesy Now try get the wine back in the bottle.

The sideways reality was caused by the Smoke Monster. He manipulated them so that he could use their collective mental construct to lure them into hell. He succeeded. They fell for it. He got them to remove the cork. He manipulated them in order to blow up Jughead. They did everything he wanted. He wanted to become mortal again so that Jack would kill him, so that he can go to their collective afterlife. Their journey is thus:

It’s quite tragic really. They were good characters. It’s a shame they were duped. That’s free-will for ya. *Roll Eyes*

Laura C &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

You mentioned a couple of times that those in the church were just season 1’s characters but Libby, Penny and Juliette were also there…

George Estremera &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

Thanks. I must have missed that Penny was there.

Lameth &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

Too many loose ends. I wished for a better ending.

Mike &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

The questions I still have, though, are about the function of Eloise, Desmond and Daniel. Certainly Eloise. What was the connection there, and why was it so important? Who IS Eloise?

Cat Vincent &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

Nicely done… but I suspect more than a touch of retcon being swept under the rug there. Especially since it was made clear years ago Jack was originally written to die in the pilot episode!

dan &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

This is really a great article. A lot of people will appreciate this.

else &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

This article, if it is a true one, has just changed A LOT for me as a LOST fan. I was unhappy and done.

Now, again, I am a huge fan. I was fully aware that we wouldn’t get all answers handed in a platter and I was cool with that. I had also already determined to go back to Season 1 and watch every episode from the beginning once the finale aired. But then the finale aired. I was disappointed and not interested in watch any more of it. I was done.

The way I saw it, the producers kept the viewers interested year after year because of new mysteries, new characters, new plots and intriguing scenarios. However, in the end they couldn’t (or chose not to) explain the big picture in full and changed track once again, ending on a spiritual redemption-alternate reality note. It didn’t really made a connection with all the mysterious happenings on the island and in my opinion it was a bit of a slap in the face. I felt that they stumbled at the finish line and didn’t deliver an ending worthy of the roller coaster ride they put us through for 6 years.

This article did just that: it connected some dots and gave us an OFFICIAL glimpse of what the whole thing was really intended to be about. As fans we sat around and argued and created theories for 6 seasons. I can sit here and debate w/ others what the finale meant until we’re all blue in the face. That’s fine and dandy but it’s not the “official” word from the boys (and girls), if you ask me. And I think a series THIS STRONG needed that. An official bow at the end that validated the roller coaster we just went through. Leaving it all up to interpretation can be beautiful and artsy but it’s cryptic as hell and personally it weakens the work.

All we needed was a word like that – what the writer just gave us above here. Some felt like they got it. Some didn’t. I didn’t until now and I am pretty satisfied with what I just read here.

else

Chaos &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

Thanky you very much for this! A lot of people (IMHO) didn’t like the end, because they didn’t understand it. Now with this explanation I really hope they now can enjoy the end like I did. And I am not a very religious person, you only have to “let it happen” and you’ll be fine with it! Thanks

Leslie &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

I love this explanation. I however have one question. How is Aaron in the church as a baby? Kate left the island with him and raised him in the flash forward. When she came back for Claire, he was 3. This to me doesn’t make sense other than he was a character in Season 1. Thoughts?

George &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I noted a theory that while every character has to, as stated, reconcile their lives in this sideways world before they can move on, there’s more to it . I propose that each person in the purgatory has their own version of the sideways world that is tailored to their personal interactions with those people, reflections if you will, of how they remembered each person. This is not unlike, say, having a grandparent pass away very late in life but always “picturing” them in your mind as their younger selves.

I believe that the Sideways world had to serve two purposes: For the audience, we had to see glimpses of “closure” that other characters had to experience that would not necessarily have anything to do with Jack’s version (Sawyer & Juliet, Charlotte & Daniel, etc). Those scenes were for us.

However, the rest of it was, essentially, Jack’s version, tailored specific to him. The selection of the Church, his father as the usher to the next level. Long winded, but this part of why Aaron is just recently born – the newborn version was the most influential and direct reflection of Aaron that Jack had, especially since off the island he didn’t get to spend much time with him since he and Kate were at odds.

They say that everyone we encounter is a reflection of ourselves – that’s what I believe they were trying to convey with the final portion of the ending inside the church. We were watching Jack’s version of his ascension.

Meghan &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

In the sideways world, Aaron was just born at the concert right before the church scene. Which is also why Sun is still pregnant because she hasn’t had the baby yet. The Sideways world is different than the flash forward.

HollyP &dash;
May 26, 2010 &dash;

I agree with George. This explanation also fits with some pieces… Sawyer and Miles were close in both real world and sideways world, and one might reasonably expect them to cross together. Ditto for Penny and her half-brother Daniel. However, Jack spent almost no time with Miles or Daniel.

Ice &dash;
May 30, 2010 &dash;

Leslie, if you remember, when they return to the island, that is when Jack carried out the plan to release the bomb into the hole Dharma was digging. Juliette detenated the bomb causing the explosion which caused the sudden appearance of the ‘alternate world’. The world in which the plane didn’t crash and Aaron had yet to be born. Once the bomb exploded, the ‘future’ Aaron ceased to exist in the new alternate reality except as a child not yet born to a sister Jack has not yet met. I hope that helps explain it a bit for you.

CJ &dash;
June 1, 2010 &dash;

I disagree. I don’t think the bomb exploded. The only thing it did was return the Losties to the present. The flash of white light was exactly the same as the other times they jumped through time. The Island was not done with them yet. Therefore, they were not permitted to die. Like Jack’s stick of TNT, there was no detonation.

The bomb did not CAUSE Sideways World to exist. That was just the first time we saw it . Sideways World existed because “the group of joined souls” created it (don’t ask me how they swung that, but that was the explanation in the final episode).

Erin &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

What about Desmond? He was in the church with Penny, but neither of them were one of the originals from Season 1. How did he make it in there? He was obviously an integral character, but, again, not one of the originals. Plus, I read an interview he did that mentioned that he was originally contracted for only three episodes. Why change the ending for him and not Ben?

Amy &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

I thought about that, too, but Desmond and Jack ran into each other before everything happened (in a flashback). I believe that was in Season 1 (if I remember correctly). I don’t know about the rest, though.

Blair &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

i guess Desmond and Penny had made their connections and Desmond’s connections were also with some of the “lostaways”

Ice &dash;
May 30, 2010 &dash;

I’m confused about the role that Gina Rolands played. I LOVE her as an actress but didn’t understand her comment in the last episode to Desmond ‘Does this mean you are taking over my job now?” or something to that effect. What was her role in the whole ordeal? I know she had the device to track the island when it was ‘moved’ but what was her overall role in the story and why would she ask Desmond if he was taking her job?

I also do not believe the ending was written after the pilot. I read several articles in the first year of LOST where the writers stated they were writing episode to episode ‘flying by the seat of their pants’, so-to-speak. It wouldn’t make any sense that Libby, Desmond, and Penny were in the church if it was truly written right after the Pilot was written.

My thoughts about Ben not going into the church with the rest had to do with Alex and her mom. They are linked to Ben but were not at the church yet so Ben has to gather his thoughts then go get Alex and her mom before he is able to move on. That is just my take on it.

One thing I can say is that the writers did a wonderful job keeping me in suspense and leaving me hungry for more.

Barret &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

If they are all from Season 1, how do you explain Libby with Hurley in the church, but not Mr Echo, Anna Lucia, etc, even though Libby was not introduced until Season 2?

I heard they asked Mr. Echo to be in the finale but he asked for 5X more than they offered him. So it turns out that it was a cost reason he wasn’t there. Too bad since he had an important role in the story.

Very cogent. One problem with the “only Season 1 in the church” stuff, though: Juliet is there.

Adam &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

There are a couple flaws in this explanation, but it is by far the most accurate one I’ve seen so far.

The only other comment that kind of bothers me is that Dharma was brought to the island by Jacob. I don’t think that’s the case.

Richard recruited Ben from Dharma and then Ben killed them all off. I think Dharma was another unexplained part of the show. But it was a VERY important one in that it gave the writers the ability to introduce some more curve-balls, like the invisible fence, all the stations, etc.

Ben had one of the most complex characters in the show b/c of the Dharma connection and connection with Richard/Jacob. I need to sit and think about it some more to nail that one down, but I did notice that explaination here was a little off.

Otherwise AWESOME review.

Has anyone figured out Widmore’s true role? What was his ultimate purpose? He said he worked with Jacob too….

will &dash;
May 29, 2010 &dash;

One theory I’ve read elsewhere is that the scene INSIDE the church is from Jacks perspective. He has all his friends there and his father. Once they go inside the Church, the other losties would have had their own little parties, with some of the same people there but others, ie Hurley would have probably been lead into the light by his mother.

Ben was waiting outside because his important group of people were more likely to be people from the others especially his daughter. His party was happening a little later.

Julian &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

But, see… Ben not coming in because this “was written after the pilot” thing makes no sense for two reasons:

“…can we hand you a script for the last episode of the show right now? No, because there are market fluctuations that we are unaware of at this point. Certain characters that you want to write more for sort of wear out their welcome sooner rather than later. New characters are introduced, and pop in unexpected ways…”

That allows any character to be in the final scene, regardless of when they were introduced.

James &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

That was absolutely brilliant, thank you.

Janet &dash;
May 25, 2010 &dash;

I thought this was an excellent summation of the show. It answered what few questions I still had. I feel very satisfied with the world of Lost and the ending of that world. Thank you for taking the time to write this up to help those of us with questions.

John &dash;
May 27, 2010 &dash;

That is what we want to hear (too many holes). Also, this “writer” was let go of by ABC 3 years ago.

Now for the truth:

The ending was presented in a way that would leave most viewers satisfied with a hero-ending. The real way that the story ends is with us discovering that MiB set a trap – always pretending to be Jacob so that people would work for him toward destroying the Island. He created the ALT (it was not an afterlife, so-to-speak, but was definitely timeless) so that he could go there (only after the island was destroyed – it was the only way he could leave) and lure everyone into Hell.

That wasn’t a ‘Christian’. That wasn’t a ‘Shepard’. That was the ‘Darkness’

Khattum Shud!

Here its like this:

*The light is life, death, rebirth: It’s the source. The heart of the Island.

*The light is ‘Beautiful’. As stated by Mother, Brother and also in the earliest episodes by John Locke when he encountered first encountered the Smoke: “I looked into the eye of the island, and what I saw… was beautiful.” … “I saw a very bright light. It was beautiful.”

*It is the reason everyone is on the Island.

*A little bit of this same light is inside every man, but they always want more.

*If humans try to take the light they could potentially put it out.

*If the light goes out in the cave (or rather, at the heart of the Island) it goes out everywhere. (allusion to the spreading of the darkness – analogy of the wine out of the bottle).

*Going into the light is much worse than dying. (allusion to the analogy of the ‘wine’ within the bottle as hell, malevolence, evil).

*The light causes metal to “behave strangely”, i.e. it is electromagnetic in nature.

*There is presumably a system that can channel the water and the light using the wheel constructed by the Brother.

Ok – we can safely say that the light went out.

Keep this in mind. In the Bardo Thodol the chikhai bardo is the bardo of the moment of death – our sideways illusion. Categorically this is then an experienced as a very diaphanous light, none in the West commonly as the ‘light after death’ – this is distinctly as the very early stages of death. In Christianity, this is exactly where the devil can snatch the soul away. In the Bardo Thodol this is the case of when the soul, after the expereince of this the person can experience the realm of the asura (in Christianity, the seduction of the demons). This then, it the nature of the light of the Devil. Aptly named ‘Lucifer’, meaning lucem ferre, literally meaning “light-bearer”.

Now if we consider that Jack and Desmond basically did everything they shouldn’t have – and that the Smoke Monster basically marched them right into the place they shouldn’t have been – wouldn’t our bold writers expect us to make these assumptions – that they FAILED!

This is the sort of danger the inversion of a symbol can be.

Khattum Shud!

Christian Shepard gave a description of the Sideway Reality – a collective illusion – the definition of maya. They went from living in reality to a mythical Island to an unreal place to a light that holds a ‘fate worse than death’.

The writers said if the light goes out there, it goes out everywhere. They said the cork prevents ‘evil, malevolence and hell’ from being released.

We saw the cork removed.

We saw the light go out.

Now repeat the actions Jacob did as an experiment: Tip a wine bottle upside down, take the cork out. Cheesy Now try get the wine back in the bottle.

The sideways reality was caused by the Smoke Monster. He manipulated them so that he could use their collective mental construct to lure them into hell. He succeeded. They fell for it. He got them to remove the cork. He manipulated them in order to blow up Jughead. They did everything he wanted. He wanted to become mortal again so that Jack would kill him, so that he can go to their collective afterlife. Their journey is thus:

It’s quite tragic really. They were good characters. It’s a shame they were duped. That’s free-will for ya. *Roll Eyes*

Susofdisbelief &dash;
May 28, 2010 &dash;

When the MiB inhabited Locke he definitely didn’t seem like a ‘good’ guy, but hell, he’d been desperately wanting to get off that island for a long, long time and finally had his chance.

I have to admit that in a lot of ways I feel a much stronger connection to the MiB than to Jacob. Jacob simply seemed mentally slow and naive to me… staying with his fake mother after finding out that she slaughtered his real mom? Really? I had way more respect for the MiB… leaving his fake mother and going to his real people, wanting to leave the island and experience more to life…and yes, he killed many people while trying to do that but geez, how many people did Jacob kill? (A lot!)

The Jacob character seemed to pander to mediocrity, at least as far as mentality and ethical conviction is concerned, much like the United States media.

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